


Moonlit and Heartfelt

by chiraledge



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, Fluff, theater romance, will add more tags when I figure out what other ships will be in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-03-07 08:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13431018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiraledge/pseuds/chiraledge
Summary: Akko joins Luna Nova’s new play, but her character's role with Diana's makes things complicated.





	1. Auditions

5:47am. Akko Kagari was certain it was the perfect time to announce her newest plan to her roommates. She took the obvious route to wake them up (because how could they be sleeping with something this monumental going on?), by dropping all of her textbooks on the ground together at once, creating a massive boom. Lotte and Sucy flipped out of their beds and accidentally landed perfectly in front of Akko, who stood proudly before them.

“Guys, you won’t believe what I found out!” Akko yelled.

Sucy and Lotte didn’t share her enthusiasm, and didn’t even react to the cool pose she busted out just for them. Instead, they got back into their beds and pulled their blankets back over themselves.

“Akko, it’s really early. Can you tell us later?” Lotte asked.

“It’s a big thing though!” Akko said.

“And we have a big amount of sleep we should be getting back to.” Sucy said.

They fell back asleep pretty quickly, already used to Akko’s early morning wakeup announcements. Akko sat down and waited while they slept, then fell asleep on the floor. When she woke up, Lotte and Sucy were getting ready to leave for class.

“Oh yeah, what was your thing again Akko?” Sucy asked.

“I thought I dreamt that.” Sucy said.

Akko snapped awake, proudly presenting a poster she’d ripped off of one of the walls.

“Ta da!” Akko said.

Lotte and Sucy leaned in to read the fine print and examine the silhouette drawings on the poster, and the big text above that read  _Moonlit and Heartfelt_.

“A play?” Sucy asked.

“Hmph. You didn’t hear?” Akko asked.

“I don’t care.” Sucy said.

Sucy’s indifference didn’t damage Akko’s smug enthusiasm. Instead, with twinkling eyes, she pictured her hero, Shiny Chariot.

“I have to be in this play!” Akko said. “A play would be the perfect way to hone my skills as a performer just like Chariot!”

“But you can’t act.” Sucy said.

“I so can act Sucy! You’ve never seen me act!” Akko said.

“Don’t they normally use that area for movie nights?” Lotte asked.

“They said they need to do something for the arts there for ‘budgetary’ reasons or something like that.” Akko said. “Anyways I’m gonna go

“But we have…class?” Lotte asked, but Akko was already out the door.

After getting dragged to class by Finnelan, Akko could barely focus. She daydreamed the whole time about how incredible her performance would be, and she made sure to sneak peeks at the section of the script she had to use for her audition whenever she could.

There was a sizeable turnout to the auditions when Akko arrived with Sucy and Lotte, somehow managing to drag them there.

“Ugh,  _Diana’s_  here?” Akko said.

“Are you really surprised?” Sucy asked.

“She should be asking the same to you,” Barbara said. “Because there’s no way you’re getting a part so you shouldn’t even bother!”

Professor Ursula and Professor Croix were seated in front of the stage area.

“Are they both directing?” Lotte asked.

Amanda was sitting in one of the nearby rows of chairs, leaning her sneakers on the seat in front of her.

“Ursula’s handling acting, while Croix is doing the backstage stuff.” Amanda said.

Amanda saw that Akko was holding the audition page.

“There’s not like a spell for good acting you know.” Amanda said.

“Why does everyone think I can’t act?” Akko said.

“Maybe you should just be on the crew with Jaz and Constance,” Amanda said. “I mean, Constance and Croix already rigged up most of the special effects, so it won’t be too much work.”

Constance gave a trademark thumbs up.

“So, I can get some nice extra credit without even trying.” Amanda said.

Ursula and Croix stood up to line everyone up.

“Attention students!” Ursula said.  “Welcome to the auditions for _Moonlit and Heartfelt_! Anyone who’s auditioning for a role in the play please sit in the left section by me, while those looking to work on the crew should stand by Professor Croix!”

Akko could barely pay attention to the other auditions. She suddenly felt very nervous about acting in front of the class. What if she really couldn’t act? Had she ever even done anything like this?

Making matters worse, Akko couldn’t deny Diana’s audition was incredibly good. She seemed like a different person, her poise and vocal tone was completely different.

“Akko?” Ursula asked.

“Huh?” Akko asked, standing up quickly.

“It’s your turn.” Akko said.

Akko moved slowly to the stage. Diana brushed her hair as she passed by, giving a familiar look that said, “You’re out of your element, don’t even bother.”

Akko took a deep breath and read her lines the best she could. She stumbled over her words a few times, but she was proud of her vocal

“Excellent, Akko.” Ursula said.

Akko slumped into her seat and enjoyed the rest of the auditions with a bit less stress. Each of the students were given a copy of the script, and were told the casting would be announced in the next few days.

When the bulletin board had the casting announcements on it, Akko sprinted all the way from her room to it, and pressed her face as close to it as she could to see if she got in. Of course, Diana had gotten the lead role of Alice Moonlit, but the second character Etta Heartfelt…

“Alright! I made it in!” Akko said.

Akko stood happily by the board to watch the others’ reactions to her big part. Amanda was surprised and had a snide comment, but still patted Akko on the back.

“You’ll figure out how to act eventually.” Amanda said.

When Diana stopped by, she didn’t say anything to Akko. She gave a strange look, and left immediately. Hannah and Barbara held hands and squealed and loudly announced most of their scenes would be together as the chorus. Lotte and Sucy stopped by next, and Akko was glad they’d be on the crew with Amanda’s team.

“Congratulations Akko!” Lotte said. “The deuteragonist is a huge part!”

"Deuteragonist?" Akko asked.

"Second-to main character." Sucy said.

Lotte thought for a moment, and paged through the full script.

“Oh… _oh_.” Lotte said.

“What is it?” Akko asked.

“Akko…have you read this play?” Lotte asked.

“Yeah, I read…the first few pages.” Akko said.

Akko looked at Lotte, who buried her face in the script to hide her blushing.

“Is something wrong?” Akko asked.

“It’s just…there’s a lot of kissing.” Lotte said. “And since you’re the deuteragonist…”

“Then I’m going to be kissing…” Akko said.

Akko’s smile faded. She darted through a couple pages of the script, then paged through even more frantically. In her first play, she’d have to be kissing someone on stage more than a few times. That alone was terrifying, but that terror was amplified when she realized she’d have to be kissing Diana Cavendish.


	2. Private Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko goes to Professor Ursula for advice for her scenes in the play.

After reading through the entirety of the play with growing unease and a sinking pit in her stomach, Akko found herself a little lightheaded with the idea of kissing Diana Cavendish on stage. She stomped over to Professor Ursula’s office.

“I can’t do that!” Akko yelled, and Professor Ursula quivered under her sudden booming voice.

“A-Akko! You should try to be a little quieter inside!” Ursula said.  
“Oh. Sorry,” Akko said. “Also, hi Professor. I kinda just barged in huh?”

“A little,” Ursula said with a smile. “But I can guess why.”

“I just…I really want this to go well.” Akko said. “And I feel like I’d rather punch Diana in the face than kiss her.”

Ursula sighed.

“I wasn’t sure about this play, but Professor Croix demanded it, and it’s too late to change it now.” Ursula said. “This being an all girl’s school, I figured we could pick something with a little less…”

Ursula sat Akko down and brewed her some tea.

“In a performance, you sometimes have to do things that you wouldn’t normally do,” Ursula said. “Especially in a play. Try to think of the scene as your _character_ doing it rather than yourself! Read through the script and try to get into Etta Heartfelt’s mind.”

Akko didn’t feel too convinced yet. It would be her character sure, but she’d still be kissing Diana. In front of everyone. Even Ursula’s trademark “feel better” tea wasn’t easing her anxiety.

“If you’re really uncomfortable, we can change some lines around, or even re…” Ursula said.

Ursula cut herself off, but Akko knew she was going to say ‘recast’.

“I won’t quit.” Akko said. “I really want to do well in this play. Chariot wouldn’t quit!”

“Maybe you should talk to Diana about it,” Ursula said. “She’s probably nervous about it as well.”

“I probably should.” Akko said.

Akko finished her tea and left the office. She didn’t have to look far for Diana, who marched towards her almost immediately as she stepped into the hallway.

“Hi, Diana.” Akko said.

“Atsuko,” Diana said. “I’d like to invite you to read through the script a few times, for your sake.”

_Ugh._ Akko couldn’t imagine kissing _her_. Especially with that sneer on her face.

“I think I can handle it on my own.” Akko said.

Akko wanted to give up on Ursula’s suggestion right there. _Maybe Diana deserves to be as uncomfortable as I feel_. Diana didn’t let Akko walk past her, though.

“I don’t trust you to start practicing on your own until the last minute, when it’s far too late.” Diana said.

Akko could tell Diana wouldn’t back down from this. She had her powerful crossed arm stance. Akko had wasted too much of her life fighting Diana when she had that stance.

“Fine,” Akko said. “Where do you want to go over our lines then?”

Diana led Akko to a private study area. Akko sat dejected and rolled and unrolled her script. Diana stood quietly, and Akko couldn’t read her expression.

“Diana…have you actually read the script all the way through?” Akko asked. “We have a…we have a scene together…like eight of them.”

“It’s seven actually,” Diana said. “Assuming you’re referring to the scenes where we…”

Diana paused. On the surface she didn’t seem uncomfortable. She wasn’t the type to overtly blush or blurt out what they were feeling like Akko. Akko saw the faintest discomfort in her expression.

“You can’t even say it!” Akko said.

Diana flinched. _Ha! Got her!_

“I can! I just…want to phrase it…in a more…proper...” Diana started, then sighed.

_So, we do feel the same. She’s just as nervous as I am._ Akko stared down at her shoes.

“Maybe I should just ask to be recast,” Akko said. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“No!” Diana said, maybe too suddenly.

“Huh?” Akko said.

The two froze for a moment, and Diana turned away from Akko.

 “I mean…” Diana said. “This is going to be incredibly uncomfortable, but I feel as though it be potentially _more_ uncomfortable if it’s someone…not…”

“Not me?” Akko asked.

“Not…” Diana said.

Diana was visibly frazzled and struggling to come up with an answer. Akko had never seen her like this, and didn’t even want to tease her about it.

“It’d look badly on the production to have a recast so soon.” Diana said.

“But it’d be me that’d be getting a different part,” Akko said.

“So it’d give the impression that I’m difficult to work with.” Diana said. “Word travels fast in this school…”  
“And you don’t want anything that would break your Miss Perfect status.” Akko said.

“Precisely,” Diana said bitterly.

Akko leaned back in her chair, trying to think of a solution. She buried her face in her hands.

“I mean, we could start with one of the other scenes…but…” Diana said.

Akko knew what she meant. The kisses would be looming over them no matter what. Even if they weren’t rehearsing them every time, it’d be really clear if their characters were awkwardly kissing.

“Maybe if we practice once here it’ll be easier.” Akko said.

Akko was half kidding, but she saw Diana pondering the idea with a hand on her chin. Her heartrate increased parallel to her nervous laugh.

“It might make it easier,” Diana said.

A nervous look shared between them made the idea feel a bit more real. They both flinched at the same time after they hit another realization.

“I mean! If…that’s what you think would be a good idea.” Diana said.

“It’d be for the play,” Akko said. “And it’d just be our characters kissing. That’s what Professor Ursula told me.”

Diana nodded.

“That’s sound advice,” Diana said, pulling a chair up to sit directly across from Akko. “Give me a moment to get into character.”

After verifying that the door was locked and there was no way for anyone to see them, Akko watched Diana get into the headspace of her character. She was pretty impressed by Diana’s dedication even in a practice like this. She must have been in plays before.

Diana suddenly started to lean in, causing Akko to nearly fall out of her chair. She put her hands up to block Diana’s advance.

“Whoa! Are we just…doing this?” Akko asked.

“Hmm, good point,” Diana said. “Let’s just start with the first scene where Alice kisses Etta.”

That moment was at a good spot where the kiss was at the bottom of the page, so they each had a good amount of lines. Diana read the narration and her character’s lines, and Akko did her best to read hers. Then Diana leaned in. Akko stared at her lips.

Akko kept freezing at the last second. It reminded her of the strep throat test she’d have to get where she kept stopping the doctors from getting too close. Diana became noticeably frustrated after the fifth squeal and “Okay okay one more time,” from Akko.

“Akko…” Diana said with disappointment tinging in her voice.

“I know, I know.” Akko said.

Akko shut her eyes. She couldn’t waste any more of Diana’s time.

_Think of the_ _character_.

_It’s not you. It’s Etta Heartfelt._

“One more try…” Akko said. “And let’s just…start with the…”

Akko leaned in a bit closer.

_It’s Etta Heartfelt kissing Alice Moonlit. That’s all._

No turning back now. Diana was too close for Akko to block her without accidentally smacking her. Akko pictured herself as Etta, overcome with sudden emotion at her dearest friend Alice’s sudden confession that she doesn’t know if she’ll ever see her again due to being enlisted in the war, and-

Just for a second or two, their lips met. Diana’s lips were so soft, and Akko lost herself in the moment. They both pulled away and blushed. Akko touched her lips, shocked that it actually happened that easily.

_Oh. That was actually. Really nice._

_But just nice for my character! Nice for Etta!_ She thought.

_Right?_

“That was my first kiss.” Diana said.

Akko snapped back to reality, and realized she was staring deeply into Diana’s eyes.

“AHHHHH! That was my first kiss too!” Akko said, grabbing the sides of her head.

Diana stared coldly at Akko.

“Akko, did you read the script at all?” Diana asked. “That’s Alice’s next line.”

“Oh,” Akko said.

Both of them blushed a little harder.

“I think that’s enough for today,” Diana said, getting up abruptly. “I’m going to be checking in with you regularly of course, I’m not going to let you slack off on this play at all.”

“Right,” Akko said, suddenly glad that they’d have more time alone to practice.

Akko stayed for a bit after Diana left, a bit in shock over what happened. She felt determined though, with the biggest hurdle of her performance out of the way, there was nothing stopping her. She really felt like she would grow to understand her character more with practice like that. She felt like she could really understand and empathize with Etta’s feelings as she received her first kiss.

_Just a first kiss in character though._

_Right?_


	3. A Passionate Script

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana struggles with the start of play practice.

Diana marched down the hallway. To anyone looking at her, nothing would seem out of place. She tried to look as casual as possible as she returned to her room.

As soon as she was safely inside, and saw that Hannah and Barbara had not returned, she let herself show how anxious she was. She retreated to her bathroom and stared in the mirror as she caught her breath.

Diana touched a trembling hand to her mouth, the mouth that Akko Kagari had just kissed.

It was just for practice, just a scene, but…

Diana _felt_ it.

That feeling when they kissed...

She could still almost taste Akko’s lips on her own.

Diana shook her head.

_You’re being ridiculous. You just got too into character. You’re empathizing with Alice so much. You just felt it a little._

A splash of cold water helped a little. _Just a little._

Diana had only felt this a few times before. She chalked it up to intense empathy, but there were times the feeling came with being impressed. Every time she had felt it, it was about Akko Kagari.

_How will I get through a full production like this? I can’t quit now but…_

Hannah and Barbara’s return interrupted Diana’s thoughts.

“Diana! Want to hear us practice?” They said in a sing songy unison.

Diana forced herself to look composed. Hannah and Barbara would be able to tell immediately if something was even slightly off. The two went over their scenes, and they did admirably, if they complimented each other’s performance with a giggle a few too many times. Diana couldn’t help drifting back to her scenes with Akko. She knew there were actors who completely enveloped themselves in the roles they played, but could she really be that deep in character this early?

“That was excellent, you two will do wonderfully as the chorus.” Diana said.

_I need to think about something other than this play for just a few minutes…_

Diana fled to the library to finish her homework. Doing classwork, having problems that had a set solution, took her mind of the problems that didn’t have a set solution. She decided to read through the script again once her work was done.

Diana realized while paging through the script that Akko changing characters probably wouldn’t have eased her tension. Every character in the play had at least two scenes that made Diana blush. The work on character, theme and symbolism was excellent, so she could see why the script was picked. That said, it still felt more than a bit inappropriate at parts, or at least walking the tightrope of it.

“What do you think?” Croix asked.

Diana jumped, and turned to see Professor Croix standing behind her grinning.

“Well, it’s certainly…interesting.” Diana said.

Croix laughed, pressing a hand to her collarbones.

“Yes, this playwright has many scripts under their belt,” Croix said. “And they wrote many under pen names as well. A good portion of the scripts in Luna Nova’s library are from her.”

“Very…intriguing.” Diana said.

“I’m very excited to see this particular one brought to life,” Croix said. “I believe we’ve assembled an incredible cast, and of course with incredible directors.”

Diana wasn’t quite sure what to say. Croix looked so excited that she almost felt bad for being so anxious about it.

“Do you have any advice for my character?” Diana asked. “I’ve acted in plays before, but none with so much…”

“Passion?” Croix asked. “Raw, unrelenting and heart rending spirit?”

Diana’s heart hit a funny beat. _It’s just the character that feels it. Just the character._

“Well, not exactly.” Diana said. “I’m more asking for advice with all the…”

Croix suddenly sat down beside Diana.

“Diana, I can’t keep this secret!” Croix whispered excitedly. “ _I_ am the playwright! I’ve penned so many scripts under so many names, but this one has such a special place in my heart.”

Croix went on and on about the making of her script, down to the enchanted typewriter she used, but offered no advice to the romantic scenes. Croix left suddenly as well, leaving Diana feeling as though a tornado passed through the library.

Diana was still out of sorts when practice came the next day. She hoped no one noticed how tightly she was holding the script, or that she tried to look away from Akko when she arrived (a few minutes later, because of course she would). Ursula and Croix greeted the full group, with Croix looking particularly giddy to see her script rehearsed. After some brief vocal warmups, Ursula nervously looked through the script.

“Uhhm well,” Ursula said, paging through the script. “Let’s start with the first scene?”

“Oh professor,” Croix said. “Must you start with the simplest of moments? Let’s start strong! I want the midnight rendezvous scene between the forlorn lovers!”

Diana hated that she didn’t know if that was about her character or one of the other romances in the play.

“Professor Croix!” Ursula said. “We’ll get to…those scenes. Eventually.”

Ursula sighed. “Let’s just start from the top.”

The stage wasn’t complete yet outside of the mechanisms Croix and Constance had built, so it looked like they were standing in a factory, making it hard to picture the street they were on. Diana tried to put herself in the mindset of Alice returning to her home city.

“Bein’ here in this big city…it does fill me with a certain kind of agony.” Diana said.

Diana pretended to pick up a newspaper where she imagined the newspaper stand would go. Wangari stood behind it, as her character worked about five jobs.

“The big city life, in a time of war no less!” Wangari said. “Agony doesn’t put it bluntly enough. Though the agony can fade away, sometimes love and connections can soar with heartache all around us."

Diana took a few steps forward, imagining the play’s direction of a spotlight falling on Akko.

“And across the street I spot her for the first time,” Diana said. “The girl who changed everything for me.”

Akko just stood there with a blank expression on her face.

“Oh. Me?” Akko asked. “Is this my part?”

Diana had expected Akko’s inexperience with plays to be overcome a little with her affinity for Shiny Chariot, but she was still Akko at heart. It took a few tries to do the scene where Alice and Etta first locked eyes on each other, as Akko kept missing her cue (even though they were all holding their scripts), and when she did get it she kept finding something on stage to trip over. Diana was relieved when the other scenes she wasn't in were rehearsed, providing her precious moments to compose herself.

“That’s enough for today,” Ursula said. “Maybe you should get some ice for those bruises, Akko…”

Diana was hoping to rush back to her room after the play, but Akko found her, and it was clear she wouldn’t be able to leave without talking to her or she’d look rude.

“So, what’d you think?” Akko asked with a nervous laugh.

“Well…” Diana started. Normally she’d be blunt and tell Akko she needed to work a lot harder if this was going to remotely work. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Yeah, I know I’m pretty bad.” Akko said.

“It’s not that…” Diana said.

Everyone around them was chatting to each other, so she figured she could be a bit more open. Nobody would notice as long as they didn’t say anything too weird. She still felt incredibly anxious being so close to Akko again.

“I met with Professor Croix and asked her for advice.” Diana said.

“And?” Akko asked.

“She told me she wrote the script, and just kept talking about and enchanted typewriters.” Diana said.

“Wow, really?!” Akko said. “Professor Croix is so talented!”

Diana expected those words to summon Croix to them and break up the nervous feeling just by having someone else nearby.

“Do you want to go practice some more in private?” Akko asked.

_Maybe not today. Please say that. Please say there’s homework to do_.

“I think that would be a good idea,” Diana said.

While her mind yelled at her in protest, Diana followed Akko to the private room they practiced in the day before. _Just remember, you’re in character. That’s why your heart is pounding so hard._

“Well, we did the opening a lot today, so we probably don’t have to do that.” Diana said.

While Diana absentmindedly paged through the script, Akko shuffled her feet a little, and kept opening and closing her wand.

“What is it?” Diana asked.

“Maybe we should…practice another kiss.” Akko said. “For like, a warmup.”

Diana felt as though she had a fever when she heard that. But she didn’t stop herself. She just nodded.

“That might be good,” Diana said. “Get the most difficult part out of the way.”

Diana lined up their chairs again like before.

“Let’s do the second scene where we…” Diana said. “That one has less dialogue to set up.”

Diana didn’t know why that made it easier. She imagined herself as Alice just the same, her heart and soul ignited by passion as she found Etta again, embracing her immediately as-

Diana cursed herself for not checking if the door was locked when she heard the door click. She quickly sat back down in her chair with lightning speed while Akko flinched. Amanda O’Neill walked through the door and Diana felt all the color fade from her face.

“Oh, I see what’s going on here.” Amanda said with a grin.


	4. View from the Crew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amanda starts crew work on the play.

Just like Amanda had hoped, crew work was barely work. Constance did pretty much everything, so the girls could either catch up on homework or just hang out, as least as far as the early rehearsals were concerned. Amanda obviously laughed at the idea of spending any extra time doing homework. Lotte tried to help because she’s a sweetheart, but Constance didn’t need much help. Professor Croix didn’t give them that much direction for the first rehearsal either, so Amanda decided to watch it since she wasn’t tired enough to nap.

Wangari’s character was an early scene stealer with her bombastic voice. Hannah and Barbara would be on brooms the whole time, so Amanda got to be a good and preferable distance away from them. But at first at least, the real treat was seeing Akko and Diana do their scenes.

They seemed to be trying to push each other to do better, just like everything else they did at Luna Nova with their stupid rivalry. In the interest of not making it weird (or at least that was the impression Amanda got from Ursula), they didn’t have to rehearse their kissing scenes that day. The two just had to stand close to each other. Amanda found it hilarious how awkward even doing that made the two seem.

Amanda thought she’d spend the whole rehearsal enjoying that uncomfortableness, until a tall girl moved into the center of stage. She didn’t have many lines, but Amanda kept watching the way she stroked her long red hair, or the way she looked at her script. The girl caught Amanda staring and missed a line, causing her to blush. Amanda tried to play it off like she was just looking at everyone in a passing glance, but deep down she knew that didn’t fly.

_Her name’s Sarah._ Amanda suddenly remembered.

“That’s enough for today,” Ursula said. “Maybe you should get some ice for those bruises, Akko…”

While the group chattered and packed up, Amanda kicked at the ground.

“Hey, so…” Amanda said. “Who’s that girl playing the former Hollywood actor? With the red hair?”

Amanda wanted to play it cool. She figured no one would tease her, but she didn’t want to break her image by looking too interested.  
“Sarah?” Lotte asked.  
“I know that,” Amanda said. “But does anyone know anything about her?”  
The group collectively shrugged. Amanda hadn’t remembered ever talking to her.

“Why do you want to know?” Sucy asked.

Sucy had a blank expression, but Amanda knew she was on a tightrope now and had to answer carefully.

“I just wanted to ask her something about her character,” Amanda said. “She reminds me of a famous broom dancer…”

_Am I talking about her or her character?_

Amanda could read what Constance was saying without saying anything from rooming with her for so long. Constance asked with a short look, _Why don’t you go talk to her?_

“Uhh you go talk to her!” Amanda said.

Constance glared at her.

_Care too much alert! Cover quickly O’Neill! Why am I so freaked out anyways?_

“I think she knows Diana pretty well,” Lotte said. “Or at least they’ve been in study groups together.

Amanda rubbed her chin as she looked for Diana.

“Where is she anyways?” Amanda asked.

“She went to practice with Akko in the study rooms.” Jazminka said.

“Thanks Jaz,” Amanda said. “Later guys!”

Amanda searched through the study rooms. She could faintly hear Akko, and opened the door without thinking. Diana and Akko both looked like they were about to faint, and Amanda realized she probably should have knocked.

“Oh, I see what’s going on here.” Amanda said.

Amanda relished in the chatter from Akko and Diana as they scrambled to answer.

“You have to train Akko on how to act because she can’t even do basic stuff right!” Amanda said.

“Hey!” Akko said.

Akko was literally tripping over herself to say simple lines during the rehearsal. It didn’t surprise Amanda if she needed lessons from a dainty diva like Diana on how to like walk in a straight line.

“Am I wrong?” Amanda asked.

“Well…” Akko said.  
Akko blushed. Amanda again felt a little guilty, but she couldn’t help teasing Akko, it was just too easy.  
“Actually, I asked Akko here.” Diana said. “Since most of our scenes are together, I decided it would be best to have time to practice together.”

Akko looked surprised that Diana said anything nice about her.

“Why are you here anyways, Amanda?” Akko asked.

“Oh!” Amanda said. “Lotte says you know that red haired girl in the play.”

“Sarah Bernhardt?” Diana asked. “Why do you ask?”

“I uh…” Amanda said, scratching the back of her head. “I accidentally grabbed her broom and have to get it back to her.”

Diana squinted, and Amanda felt her resolve weaken under her icy stare.

“And you came here…why?” Diana asked. “Wouldn’t she be with the others?”

“Well I uh,” Amanda said.

_Why didn’t you use the same story as before?! Why?!_

“I guess I didn’t think this one through,” Amanda said.

“Apparently not,” Diana said. “Why don’t you return her broom tomorrow at practice?”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Amanda said.

_Great, now I have to like, steal Sarah’s broom or my story is a bust. Why am I acting so weird about her anyways?_

“That’s probably enough practice for today, Akko.” Diana said, getting her things together quickly.

Diana left before either of them could say anything. Amanda didn’t know what else to do so she followed Akko back to her room.

“Man, she is something else,” Amanda said. “Sorry I was busting your chops.”

“It’s fine, I’m used to it.” Akko said.

Akko wasn’t answering with much engagement, she was just staring at her script as they walked.

“Man, I’m starting to wish I was in this play. Even the chorus gets a kissing scene.” Amanda said.

“Why would you want a kissing scene?” Akko asked.

_Why_ do _you want a kissing scene?_

“I dunno,” Amanda said. “It’d be fun to like…make somebody uncomfortable I guess.”

“That sounds like what you’d say,” Akko said. “Would you want a scene with Sarah?”

Amanda wasn’t ready for such a counter jab from Akko, and she reeled for a second, blushing. Akko, to her credit, didn’t say anything about that.

“How are you feeling about those…scenes?” Amanda asked.

“Well,” Akko said, seeming to choose her words carefully. “I’ve just been trying to get in my head that it’s just for show. It’s weird though because it’s _Diana_ , ya know?”

“Yeah, I don’t envy you at all there, Kagari.” Diana said.

“I’m sure I’ll figure it out!” Akko said, her normal cheer returning to her just as she reached her room.

“Figure out how to read stage directions first!” Amanda said with a wink.

Now Amanda was alone and not sure where to go at all. Her sudden infatuation with Sarah was really weird, and she didn’t like it. But she also knew she couldn’t just let it go.

_Shoot, I have a broom to steal…_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far! I have another chapter ready to go (THAT I AM RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED ABOUT) but I think I'm going to wait a day or so to post it unless I get a reaction that says to not wait.


	5. An Ephemeral Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Practice continues as Akko focuses on getting into character.

Akko was determined to do better this rehearsal. She wanted to remember when it was her turn, and also not trip over everything. Simple goals on paper, at least.

She didn’t know if it was the spotlights, but she felt incredibly warm on stage. She had been reading the script late into the night, so she wondered if that had anything to do with it. Lack of sleep could potentially cause warmness, right?

_It’s definitely that, and the spotlights._ She felt warmer when she had to rehearse lines next to Diana, which she assumed was because Diana was playing the main character, so naturally she’d have brighter lights on her.  

“After conversing with the Queen of Pirates, I really do believe that…” Akko started. “The way to true peace in the southern hemisphere is…trigonometry?”

“Akko, try to not add questions to lines you don’t understand.” Ursula said. “Even if you don’t fully get it, give it your all!”

“Give it my all huh?” Akko asked.

Akko pushed herself to try even harder when they rehearsed scenes Diana wasn’t in, to impress her when they had their private practice later.

“You!” Akko said, pointing furiously at Blair, who was playing an alien tax broker. “The people of Saturn need their showtunes back or else!”

“Much like my passion for the galactic tax system will never…wane…you too will never receive your precious musical numbers back!” Blair said, waving her wand.

There were some lines that needed spells, but they were instructed to not cast them yet.

The lines Akko got to let loose more with proved to be her early favorites. She didn’t have to worry about any kisses, even though she blushed at about every romantic line said by or about her and Diana’s characters.

_Etta’s actually kinda like me, so it’s not too hard to stay in character._

Diana’s character had more stage time, so Akko got to observe her slip into a completely different persona. While Diana was usually cold and kinda rude, Alice was sweeter but sort of lost in the world.

Akko didn’t want to say it out loud to anyone, but she was really looking forward to private practice with Diana.

After practice, she went over to say hi to Sucy and Lotte.

“Hi Akko!” Lotte said.

“Hey Akko,” Sucy said. “How are you holding up?”

“Well, it seems like today’s easier than yesterday,” Akko said.

“I bet you’re trying to not think about your kissing scenes as much as you can.” Sucy said.

Akko laughed but it made it clear she was still worried.

“D-definitely.” Akko said.

Akko wasn't sure what to talk about without giving away too much.

“So, how are things going over here?” Akko said. “I felt like those lights were uh…doing a lot of stuff today? With like warmness?”

“We actually haven’t done anything with the lights yet.” Lotte said.

“They’ve all been set the same all week.” Sucy said.

“Oh,” Akko said.

_Definitely a lack of sleep then for me feeling all warm in here. Definitely._

Akko found Diana waiting in front of the stage.

“I’ll see you guys later tonight!” Akko said.

Diana didn’t seem to react much when Akko joined her. Right as Akko made it to the front of the stage, the two watched as Amanda dropped Sarah’s broom near her. She didn’t say anything to her and left before Sarah could see who left her broom.

“So, she was telling the truth…” Diana said. “Anyways, shall we?”

“Yeah!” Akko said.

Diana chose a different private study room than last time. She actually gave an excellent lesson on performing to start things off with. She gave tips on staying in character, how the layout of the stage works and where to step and how to walk on it, posture, and more. Akko basically received a crash course in acting. Diana helped her find a fitting posture for Etta, who had a slight limp later in the play due to a leg injury caused by a deceptive drug lord.

“Wow Diana, you really know a lot about acting!” Akko said.

“I’ve been in a few productions before,” Diana said.

Usually Diana bragged like crazy about her accomplishments, but she sounded a bit subdued.

“Do you usually practice this much?” Akko asked.

“I like to,” Diana said. “I’ve never really been in a play with a script like this, however…for example, the scene where I spot you working at the ice cream stand while on the hot air balloon investigating the world travelling serial killer… ”

“You want to rehearse that scene?” Akko asked.

“It might be a bit tough in here, just with how close we are.” Diana said. “I mean, in the play I’ll be spotting you from above.”

“Yeah, true.” Akko said.

Akko felt a bit antsy. She could tell Diana was a bit jittery as well. Akko didn’t feel like she’d missed any sleep during private practice, she felt like she could go all night.

“Hey Diana,” Akko said. “Do you…want to practice a scene where we can…take advantage of the closeness? One of those scenes again?”

Akko expected Diana to say no, just because they’d already tried twice, and one of those times they were interrupted. Instead, she got up and locked the door.

“Yes,” Diana said.

Diana looked through the script.

“Let’s try the one on page 47,” Diana said.

“O-okay.” Akko said, suddenly feeling her nerves return.

_You’ve done this before. You can do this! Just…let Diana be Alice and you be Etta!_

Diana pulled her chair next to Akko. In this scene, the two would be in a “car” facing the audience, and Etta would be driving. After an argument, Etta was supposed to slam the brakes.

“Okay and then I _brake_ ,” Akko said, pressing at the air with her foot.

“You don’t need to say it, I got it,” Diana said. “Keep going.”

“I don’t care how many times you’ve time travelled!” Akko said. “Wait…when did Alice time travel?”

“Stay in character,” Diana said.

“Oh, right sorry. Uh, I don’t care how many times you’ve time travelled!” Akko said.

“But I might not even be _yours_ , Etta! I’ve jumped so much, who knows if I’m even the same Alice that saw you last?” Diana said.

Diana moved a little closer. Akko glanced a line ahead. After her next line, the official direction read “The two share a desperate and longing kiss.” _Stay in character, stay in character._

“There’s one…” Akko gulped. “One way to find out!”

_Okay, it’s time._ Akko was about to ready herself when Diana suddenly grabbed her and pulled her close. They were kissing before Akko knew it, hands tangled in each other’s hair. This wasn’t a little kiss like last time. Diana kissed her like she really was trying to prove she was hers. Not wanting to back down from a challenge, Akko let Etta take over, and kissed back just as much. Akko flinched for just a moment when Diana slipped her tongue into Akko’s mouth, but told herself it was just Etta kissing Alice, and they would kiss like this after being apart for so long...and she should just…close her eyes and…kiss back with the same intensity…

Akko’s mind drifted away from the play, and for a long, long moment she just let the kissing continue. Even if they were just acting, Diana was an incredibly good kisser.

The two finally broke the kiss, and took a minute to catch their breath. Akko let go of Diana first, realizing her hands had moved down to Diana’s back. Diana was still holding onto Akko’s hair, and abruptly pulled away. Akko could see that Diana’s entire face was red. She assumed hers was too. That was only her second kiss. And it was like _that._

“Wow…” Akko said. “Oh! I mean…”

Akko grabbed her script off the floor. “I think that proves it’s really you, Alice.”

Diana was still breathing heavily. Her script was tossed a bit farther away, so she had to stand up to pick it up and find her page again. Akko found herself staring at Diana while she moved, trying to read her body language. She told herself she was studying Diana’s acting style, because of course she was still in character.

“I uh,” Diana said. “Think that proves it’s really…oh, wait.”

Diana took a second to recover.

“I’ll do my best not to leap away from you again, my dear Etta.” Diana said.

Akko’s heart was still pounding in her ears. Both of them had frazzled hair now.

“Wow,” Akko said.

Akko crash landed back in reality, while Diana straightened her hair with a spell that conjured a brush made of magical energy.

“We just kinda made out.” Akko said. “Or, our characters did.”

Diana nodded, and sat back down by Akko.

“It just felt right…for the characters.” Diana said. “In that moment, I mean.”

“Do you…want to practice that scene again?” Akko asked.

“I think…I think that’d be…that’d be…” Diana said.

Akko’s heart pounded loudly for a single beat, and again her hands were on Diana’s back and Diana’s hands were on her cheeks and their lips were locked and tongues intertwined again. Akko had never felt anything like this before. A part of her didn’t want it to ever stop.

That kiss lasted much longer, and Akko enjoyed every second of it, even if it also took longer to catch their breath again after they broke away, after their foreheads were together for a second. That was something Akko felt really fit Alice and Etta in that moment.

“Do we have any more scenes where…they kiss like that?” Akko asked.

“Right, of course.” Diana said. “I’ll look over the others again and…”

Akko could tell Diana was in a haze, and she assumed she was as well. The late-night bell rang, meaning they only had a few minutes left before curfew. Akko and Diana took a few moments to compose themselves before leaving, making sure they looked presentable.

“Want to practice those…tomorrow?” Akko asked.

“Yes,” Diana said. “Definitely.”


	6. Internal Strife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana deals with what happened.

Diana used all her mental strength not to scream and run down the halls, all her energy was focused on looking normal.

This was bad. Very, very bad.

Diana had not only just kissed Akko twice, but gotten completely carried away with it. She’d never kissed anyone like that before (she could scarcely bring herself to think of the words French and kissing together in that moment), but she found herself lost to it when she looked into Akko’s eyes. When she saw her lips almost glisten in the light of the private study room. When she heard her voice go soft and uncertain, as though she needed someone to protect her from her worries…

_No! It’s just the character._ She knew she was lying to herself, but to make it down this hallway she needed to tell herself this lie.

Diana didn’t say anything when she got back to her room, just went straight to her corner and opened her diary with trembling hands. She didn’t have the mental energy at that moment to write down what had just happened. She paged back a few years to the first semesters she spent with Akko. She paged through the notes she’d written about Akko, finding once again that a significant portion of her diary since arriving at Luna Nova was about her.

_Well, of course it is. She’s been an important figure in your life._

Just thinking that got her tense as well. She found herself wrapping her hair around her fingers, a nervous habit, but pulled away when she remembered Akko’s hands tangled in her hair as their lips were together.

_Just acting, just acting, just acting._

The thought hit her like a lightning bolt. She didn’t want to admit it, and the thought terrified her, but she wanted to kiss Akko again and again, to have that feeling again. And she finally knew what that feeling was that she first felt back at their first Samhain Festival. The same feeling her character felt for her close friend. She had thought it was pride in Akko’s growing skill but…

_Akko will hate me._

Diana found herself in a full state of panic now, frozen at her desk and unable to move. She felt like she would faint soon.

_I promised her acting training, and instead…_

_“We just kinda made out.”_

Akko’s words rang in her head over and over. They kissed twice, and not just an acting kiss. Everything was moving too fast. She wasn’t used to not being in control of her emotions, but when near Akko Kagari her emotions seemed to be untethered and aimless. Something formless but completely at the mercy of her proximity to Akko.

And now those emotions had been opened as though they had been trapped behind a dam that was now nothing but ruin as the flood of feeling overwhelmed it. She had completely embarrassed herself under the guise of acting practice. For a fleeting moment of pure elation.

_I have to quit._

That was the thought that brought her comfort. She’d have to quit the play, then she could bottle these feelings back up. Akko would understand, and she was too proud to quit so she’d stay in the play. Diana could go back to not feeling such intense things and…Akko could kiss someone else on stage...

Diana sighed and buried her face in her hands. Just the thought of that made her feel jealous. Jealous that someone else would kiss Akko on stage, even if it was just acting.

This feeling was very, very bad.

 

Diana wasn’t sure what she was going to do at practice as she approached the stage. There seemed to be a nervous energy around the class, and Diana flashed through every possible scenario of the group hearing what had happened last night, or somehow figuring out Diana was considering leaving the play.

Diana felt weak again seeing Akko. She felt terrible for what had happened the night before, but also couldn’t deny the overwhelming voice in her head that wanted more. Akko looked a bit pensive as Diana approached her.

“Did you hear what happened?” Akko asked.

“I didn’t.” Diana strained to appear as stoic as she normally did, but she figured Akko would notice how hard she clenched her jaw.

“Well, I guess someone quit.” Akko said.

“What?!” Diana asked, too frantic and too loudly.

“It’s fine, there’s nothing to worry about.” Ursula said. “Gaëlle just said she’d rather focus on her studies than the play, it’s totally fine! It’s early enough that we can recast without it being a problem.”

Diana tried to remember who Gaëlle was playing. She was playing one of the characters that had a romance with…Sarah's character? Diana turned to see Akko giving an uncharacteristically serious look to Amanda.

Diana wasn’t sure how to interpret her expression. Was it “ _Don’t put yourself through this?”_ Or was it “ _Don’t pass this up?”_ Amanda made a characteristic dismissive glance back at Akko before slouching in her chair.

Croix stood up and did a slow clap that a few awkwardly joined.

“That, was for the unknown author of this play first,” Croix said. “And the wonderful remaining cast second. Let my claps be your morale! Strengthen yourself in the face of this adversity! Today there are a few scenes I am ready to see performed.”

“Croix, you’re in charge of the mechanics,” Ursula said. “Let me handle the actors.”

Ursula seemed to be embarrassed by Croix’s…everything. Diana wondered if Ursula even tolerated the script Croix wrote, or was only directing it due to their friendship.

“Professor Ursula, you wound me!” Croix said. “If I don’t see a romantic gesture on that stage today I may well _die_.”

“Relax, Croix.” Ursula said. “Let’s run through what we practiced yesterday first.”

Diana tried to put her game face on, but her acting was noticeably worse. Every time she had a scene near Akko their kisses flashed in her mind, and she felt guilty over what happened. A terrible mixture of that guilt and the overwhelming desire for more. She didn’t feel much like her character, and it showed.

Unfortunately, Croix’s demand to see one of the romantic scenes practiced came up with one of Diana’s scenes with Akko. Diana put her hands behind her back to hide how much they were trembling.

“Just remember, it’s just a show!” Ursula said.

Diana couldn’t get in that mindset. Not after the kisses the day before. The scene began with Akko’s character giving up her roller-skating career and giving Diana a small kiss on the cheek. Diana’s lines were a blur, and then Akko was supposed to lean in for a small kiss on the cheek. Diana could feel the eyes of the other students on her, and Akko moved in. She felt a rush of emotions when Akko’s lips touched her cheek, and she hoped Akko couldn’t feel how warm she was.

“Can we do that again?” Croix asked. “I didn’t feel the emotion there. Where’s the _passion_?”

Diana could hear someone, probably Amanda, snicker at that.

“I…think that’s enough for me today.” Diana said. “Or enough of scenes like that.”

Croix booed.

“It’s okay! It’s their first time doing something like this.” Ursula said. “Let’s call it there for today. If anyone knows anybody that wants a part in the play let me know as soon as you can!”

Diana wanted to run back to her room, but Akko caught her, and she found herself back in the study room. Diana found she couldn’t even look at Akko now.

“What’s with you today?” Akko asked. “Is everything okay Diana?”

Diana wanted to explain everything, but she knew she couldn’t. She wanted to say what the kisses made her feel the day before, how everything felt different now.

“I think I’m just feeling a bit uncomfortable,” Diana said. “I’m sorry.”

Diana sincerely meant that, but Akko didn’t seem to take it as an apology for their intense kisses.

“I’m feeling kinda off about it too,” Akko said. “Not like bad! But I think it was just too much for both of us?”

Diana nodded.

“It was a bit intense,” Diana said. “I think you’re an excellent scene partner, and…I really want to help you…”

Diana trailed off, suddenly lost thinking about how much she wanted to kiss Akko again.

“Maybe that was too much too soon? Like we need to work our way back up to…er, _that_ level,” Akko said. “Then again, can we even kiss like that on stage?”

Diana wiped her eyes and hoped Akko didn’t notice the tears beginning to well up in them.

“Whoa, Diana! What’s wrong?” Akko asked.

Diana closed her eyes, failing to stop her tears. _Akko shouldn’t be concerned for me, and now she’s going to worry, and she’ll pull away from me._

“I’m just overwhelmed,” Diana said. “I want to do well, and I want to help you do well. I just don’t want to…”

_I can’t hurt you._

Diana couldn’t say it, and she hoped Akko would understand. She looked at Akko and tried to say it with her eyes, or her expression, or anything. Akko gave a slight smile.

“I was really worried when I heard someone quit the play,” Akko said. “I was worried I really messed up yesterday, and that you quit.”

“No!” Diana said. “I…”

Could she tell Akko she was considering it? Would that help or hurt?

“I was so glad when I saw you walk in,” Akko said. “Now you can keep helping me practice! I’m learning a lot from you!”

Diana wasn’t sure what to say.

“Don’t quit the play Diana,” Akko said. “We’ll get this. I won’t mess up again.”  
“Akko,” Diana said. “You didn’t mess anything up. I was worried _I_ messed things up! When we kissed like that, it was so…”

“Yeah,” Akko said. “It was pretty crazy.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready today for another…scene practice like that?” Diana said.

_I don’t know if I can handle it if we kiss like that again._ She hated that she couldn’t even say it. That they’d kissed like that and she could barely describe what it meant to her.

“How about this for our practice kiss today,” Akko said.

Akko moved in too close too quickly, and Diana didn’t have time to move as Akko wrapped her arms around her. Akko kissed Diana gently on the top of her head.

“It’ll be okay,” Akko said softly. “We’ll figure this out. Maybe we should just slow down for a bit.”

Akko brushed Diana’s hair gently. It calmed her down more than anything had in the last day.

“You’re always surprising me, Akko.” Diana said.

“Thanks,” Akko said. “You don’t think there’s a scene like this in the play we could practice do you?”

Diana snorted.

“I mean, probably,” Diana said. “Between the scenes of our next ludicrous career choices…”

After some jabs at the more ludicrous scenes they both got to laugh at, the two decided to end their private practice early, and Diana felt relieved. Her guilt wasn’t completely gone, but knowing that Akko didn’t hate her made her feel better. Just as Akko was leaving, Diana wanted to give her relief as well.

“A-Akko?” Diana asked.

Akko stopped and turned around.

“Yeah?” Akko asked.  
“I won’t quit.” Diana said.

Akko’s eyes lit up.

“That’s right!” Akko said. “We’re gonna be amazing! See you later Diana!”

Diana watched Akko leave, and felt her emotions battle inside for the dominant feeling about Akko. Seeing her smile made the guilt wither away, and instead Diana let herself feel the wonder that came from being friends with Akko Kagari.


	7. Turnabout Amanda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko tries to convince Amanda to join the play.

Amanda sighed, knowing Akko would find her after practice. It had been a few days without a replacement for Gaëlle, and the vibe among the cast was getting tense. Amanda didn’t get it, they had a ton of time before the play. They’d find someone.

“I’m not interested.” Amanda said when Akko sat in front of her.

“I didn’t even say anything yet!” Akko said.

“I know what you’re going to say though, so save your breath.” Amanda said. “I don’t want to join the stupid play. I mean I _did_ join the stupid play but I only wanted the part that let me not do anything and get class credit!”

Akko pouted as she formulated her next point. _Great, she’s serious._ Akko never let up on something when she was like this.

“Do you really want to just sit around here doing nothing?” Akko asked.

“Yes!” Amanda said.

“But that’s so boring! You’re not even doing homework like the others!” Akko said.

“Whatever.” Amanda said.

_Maybe if I tune her out long enough she’ll just go away_. That had rarely worked for Amanda but she figured it was worth trying.

“You just spend all of practice staring at-” Akko started.

Amanda stood up in surprise.

“We’re _not_ talking about this here.” Amanda said.

Amanda hated that that actually made her blush. They were far enough away from anyone that no one could hear them, but even a chance of Sarah hearing made her feel more off than she cared to admit.

“Then where do you want to talk about it?” Akko asked.

Amanda left the stage, and Akko followed closely behind, making sure she couldn't run off. Amanda wished she had her broom, that was about the only way she could outrun Akko. They found a bench in the courtyard where no one would hopefully bug them.

“I’m not staring at anyone.” Amanda said.

Amanda groaned, knowing she’d given Akko an opening.

“I didn’t say you were staring at anyone,” Akko said, a beaming smile growing on her face. “I could have said you just stared at the stage, or at your shoes, or at the ceiling! But you said ‘anyone’, which means you _were_ staring at someone, and I know who!”

Amanda knew Akko had her. She could just lie and say she didn’t, but she felt her face grow warmer. Akko looked like she’d won a lottery with that.

“S-so what if I am?” Amanda asked, then buried her face in her hands. “Ugh this is so stupid! Did Sucy give me a stupid potion or something? Like a potion that makes me act stupid?”

“Nope, or well maybe I dunno,” Akko said. “But I don’t think this has anything to do with that!”

“Just say it already,” Amanda said.

Amanda waited, because Akko had to announce her findings in a dramatic and loud way.

“It took me a while because you kept staring at the stage, and I thought ‘is Amanda actually watching this?’ but that didn’t make sense because you don’t care about anything.” Akko said.

Akko was pacing in front of Amanda as she talked, as if this were some grand mystery and she was a famous detective.

“And then when Gaëlle left I was thinking like, who are all her scenes with?” Akko said. “And _that’s_ when I realized you were staring at the tall girl!”

“You’re in the play with her and you don’t even know her name?” Amanda asked.

“Er…” Akko said before laughing nervously. “What’s her name again?”

Amanda took advantage of her slight jab and tried to walk past Akko.

“Her name’s Sarah. It’s a nice story you came up with, but I’m zoning out while the practice is going on,” Amanda said. “Maybe you should focus on your part instead of coming up with stories."

_Phew. Safe._ Amanda thought as she felt she was in safe distance from Akko.

“Then why’d you tell Gaëlle to quit?” Akko said.

Amanda flinched, which gave it away to Akko. She pointed at Amanda proudly.

“You’re being stupid…” Amanda said. “Just let it go…”

“Not until you tell me,” Akko said. “If this isn’t about Sarah why’d you tell Gaëlle to quit? You wanted her part, didn’t you?”

“I told her to quit because she’s a huge nerd, so she probably didn’t want to waste time acting.” Amanda said. “How do you even know that anyways?”  
“I was…listening in.” Akko said. “I was curious!”

“Whatever,” Amanda said, mad she forgot about Akko's mouse powers she probably used to sneak around and overhear her. “Now you know everything, so can you leave me alone?”

“No! You can’t tell someone to quit the play when you want their part, then just not take it!” Akko said. “It’s not fair to us in the play to have practice without that part, and it’s not fair to you either.”

“How is it not fair to me? I don’t care about the stupid play!” Amanda said.

“Because you’re hurting yourself just spending all this time looking at something you can’t have!” Akko said. “If you want to be in the play, you should do it!”

Amanda wanted to just lock herself in her room and forget about all this. Akko would probably just pound on her door until she opened it. She didn’t want to put Jaz and Constance through that. She also definitely was not ready to talk about Sarah any more to them.

“I can’t act.” Amanda said.

It was her last effort. It was weak, and she knew she didn’t sound like she meant it, and Akko gave her a glare like Diana would, which was really weird to see.

“Look who you’re talking to!” Akko said. “We’re all learning how to do this.”

Akko got close to Amanda, looking serious.

“I’ll ask one more time, then I’ll drop it,” Akko said. “Will you join the play?”

Amanda wanted to say no. But she also didn’t. She wasn’t used to being this indecisive, and hated that she got herself into this. She knew there was only one answer.

“Ugh, _fine._ I’ll be in the play if it gets you to shut up about this.” Amanda said.

Akko literally jumped in joy and giggled for about five straight minutes while excitedly telling Amanda how great this would be. Akko dragged Amanda back to the stage.

“I found a replacement!” Akko said proudly to Professor Ursula.

“Wonderful! And…it’s Amanda?” Ursula asked.

Akko nodded. “She’s gonna do great!”

Amanda expected Ursula to look at her like she was dumb for joining, or that she’d know Amanda got Gaëlle to quit. But she smiled warmly before going over everything. Ursula also got a copy of the script for Amanda, and she felt a mix of dread and excitement as she held it.

“Professor Ursula?” Someone asked behind Amanda.

Amanda got goosebumps, as she realized Sarah was standing right behind her. She froze as Sarah stood right next to her. _Why is this freaking me out so much? What is it about her?_

“Sarah, is something wrong?” Ursula asked.

“I was just wondering if I need to come to practice tomorrow,” Sarah said.

Amanda knew Sarah didn’t have much to do without her on stage partner. She counted all the scenes Sarah had, and only one was without her partner.

“Yes, you will!” Ursula said. "We actually just found Gaëlle’s replacement!"

Amanda wanted to scream when Ursula gestured to her. She’d have to say something to Sarah now. Amanda looked into Sarah’s deep red eyes for just a second, surprised at how much taller she was than herself.

“Uh…hi.” Amanda said.

“Hi,” Sarah said. “I’m glad it’s you! Or, I'm glad we found a replacement quickly."

Amanda wanted to phase out of her body when she heard that. She laughed nervously and said some kind of agreeing grunt. Sarah left quickly, and Amanda felt so twisted up and confused she practically bolted back to the courtyard. Akko was waiting, with that smug grin on her face. Amanda sat down beside her on the bench.

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do this,” Amanda said. “You better back me up when I try and act.”

“Of course!” Akko said. “Alright, next you gotta tell me all about Sarah.”

“What?!” Amanda asked.

Amanda suddenly worried if blushing for this long could be dangerous to her health.

“Come on, I’ll be your confidant!” Akko said. “I already figured out what you’re feeling, so I’m the perfect person to talk about this with!”  
Amanda did not have the emotional energy to go into another debate with Akko. She sighed, knowing it’d probably be better to talk about it than bottle it up anymore.

“It’s okay to have a crush, you know.” Akko said.

Amanda leaned back, seeing the trace edges of sunset over the rooftops of Luna Nova. She was still blushing, but hearing it out loud made her feel more clear. Like the clouds in her mind were clearing up.

“Is that what this is?” Amanda asked. “Is that why I’m acting so dumb?”

“I don’t think you’re being dumb!” Akko said. “What do you like about her?”

“I dunno, I like that she’s…tall? Her...eyes?” Amanda said, wanting to bury herself deep underground rather than continue feeling like this. “This is so stupid.”

“It’s not stupid or dumb! She is really tall!” Akko said. “Even if you don’t know what you’re feeling, I got your back. You don’t have to figure everything out right now!”

“Yeah, I guess not,” Amanda said. “Thanks Akko. You’re really pushy, and loud, and not coordinated, but you mean well.”  
“Yeah! I mean well!” Akko said.

“And if you wanna talk to me about how gross kissing Diana is I’m here for you too.” Amanda said.

Akko giggled.

“Diana’s actually a really good kisser.” Akko said.

Akko covered her mouth, and all the color quickly drained from her face.

“Uh…” Amanda said.

“Ha ha,” Akko said. “Well, I gotta go!”

Amanda grabbed Akko’s hand as she tried to leave and grinned. The tides had turned again.

"Hold on," Amanda said. “We got each other’s backs, don’t we?”


	8. The Need to Think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko deals with the fallout of her slip of the tongue.

Akko tried to think of any spell she could to escape Amanda, even if she knew it was futile with how far she had pushed Amanda to talk about her crush. She knew Amanda wouldn’t let up until she had an equal or greater payback.

“So what happened Akko?” Amanda asked. “Did a little practice kiss go a bit far?”

“Shut up Amanda! That’s not how it is!” Akko said.

“Then how is it? ‘It’ is big enough for you to freak out this much.” Amanda said.

Akko and Amanda had had some scuffles on campus, but Akko knew this was a no-win situation. Even if she wanted to smack Amanda’s smug grin off her face, she’d get in trouble _and_ it’d confirm even more that something had happened between her and Diana. She couldn’t tell her to back off either, because she’d just spent way too much time figuring out Amanda’s situation.

“We just…” Akko said. “I dunno, it was practice for the scene. That’s all.”

Akko knew she sounded uncertain. _But that’s all that happened._

“Have you even stopped to think about it?” Amanda asked.

“Stopped to think about what?” Akko asked. “It’s just acting!”

Amanda’s grin got somehow even more smug.

“ _But that’s not fair to you._ ” Amanda said.

“Don’t say what I said back to me! It’s _so_ different than your thing!” Akko said.

“I’m sure Diana would want to hear you say that.” Amanda said.

“I’d want to hear _what_?” Diana asked.

Diana was standing behind Amanda, and Akko nearly yelled in surprise at her sudden appearance.

“Diana?!” Akko said.

“I could tell you two were fighting from across the field.” Diana said.

“Akko was just telling me all about your practicing.” Amanda said.

Amanda stifled a laugh. Akko braced herself for Diana to start yelling at her or look super angry. But she maintained her poise.

“Whatever she’s said, I’m sure I can explain.” Diana said.

“Oh, I would _love_ to hear your explanation.” Amanda said.

“Follow me,” Diana said. “ _Both of you._ ”

Diana practically dragged them to one of the private study rooms. It felt strange to have Amanda there. Not only were things immediately tense, but Akko had the feeling that she should only be in these rooms with Diana.

“Now…what exactly did you say?” Diana asked.

Amanda glanced at Akko. Once again, she had the upper hand, and it made Akko feel more freaked out. 

“I just said we made out!” Akko said.

Diana and Amanda jolted at that.

“A-Akko!?” Diana said.

“Wait, what?” Akko said, then realized. “AHHH!”

Amanda looked too shocked to even be smug about the new information.

“Whoa!” Amanda said. “You did _not_ say that! All you said was Diana is a good kisser!”

That broke Diana’s poise. She tried to hold a hand to her chin to look like she was lost in thought or something, but her hand was shaking and her face entirely red. Diana turned to the door and sighed, and Akko felt a deep pit in her stomach grow. She didn’t want to hurt Diana at all.

“Now you’ve done it,” Amanda said. “Think you can convince Gaëlle to come back and take Diana’s part?”

Diana turned back around.

“I told Akko I’m not quitting the play.” Diana said. “Even if you’re aware of our practices, that won’t stop me.”

Diana tapped her foot, seeming to regain her composure with each step.

“We were practicing a scene,” Diana said. “And we perhaps got a bit too far into method acting.”

“Pfft. Okay,” Amanda said. “If you say so.”

“That’s really all it was,” Akko said.

A twang of guilt hit Akko as she said that. _That’s really it though._ Akko looked to Diana for guidance, and hoped she’d be able to fix her unease.

“What can we do to make you not talk about this?” Diana asked.

“Hmmm.” Amanda said. Amanda said. “How about I get a practice kiss from one of you? I need to learn how to act, after all. And my character has a _lot_ of kissing to do on stage.”

“Amanda?!” Akko and Diana said in unison.

“Come on, you’re cute, Akko!” Amanda said.

Amanda cackled in the awkward pause that followed.

“I wish I had popcorn, this is great!” Amanda said.

“I…I dunno…” Akko said.

_Is this the only way to get this to stop?_

“Why not?” Amanda asked. “After all, _it’s just practice.”_

Diana clutched her elbows. Akko wished she was stronger to stop putting Diana through this.

“That’s not happening.” Diana said.

“How come? Do I have to say it again?” Amanda said.

“Akko’s my scene partner,” Diana said. “And it’s unsanitary...presumably...to have multiple...scene partners...”

“Oh, get real,” Amanda said.

Amanda stood up, and in a quick step got _way_ too close to Akko for comfort. Too many thoughts blared through Akko’s mind but the loudest was repeating, _Is this really happening?!_ Over and over. Amanda started laughing.

“I’m not gonna kiss you Akko, geez,” Amanda said. “You really believed that?”

“Amanda! You can’t joke about something like that!” Akko said.

“Maybe I’m better at acting than I thought!” Amanda said. “Serves you right for talking about my crush-”

This time Amanda flinched and covered her mouth, eyes wide at what she said. Akko pointed.

“Ha! Got you now!” Akko said. "You actually said it!"

“No you don’t!” Amanda said. “I just…said the wrong thing!”

“I think you were rather clear,” Diana said. “You have a crush."

Amanda started to object, but Diana continued.

“I’d guess it’s on Sarah Bernhardt since you’ve been staring at her,” Diana said. “And that ridiculous broom story from a few days ago.”

Amanda burned red. They were all blushing now, and an uncomfortable silence followed. Despite that, Akko felt glad she was on Diana’s team here. She had usually been on the other team, and it usually went as well for her as it had for Amanda.

“It seems we’re at an impasse,” Diana said. “So why don’t we agree that both parties won’t speak of what we heard outside of this room?”

“Fine,” Amanda said. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you, Amanda.” Diana said. “Your secret is safe with us, as well.”

“It better be,” Amanda said. “Akko spent like four hours grilling me about my personal stuff _and_ made me join the play, so I had to get her back, and you’re you so your ego could probably use getting knocked down a few pegs.”

“Probably,” Diana said, surprising Akko.

Akko wanted to just take a long nap as Amanda got up to leave.

“We still got each other’s backs,” Amanda said. “You just have to do one thing for me Akko, and it’s for your own good.”

“Huh?” Akko asked.

 “Stop and think about things for once,” Amanda said. “You don’t have to figure it all out. But you have to think if you wanna start figuring.”

Akko wasn’t sure where to start with that. _There’s just so much happening at once, it’s almost easier_ not _to think._ For now, she just felt terrible that the feeling in her stomach was getting worse. Amanda finally left with a wave, and she was alone again with Diana.

“I’m really sorry Diana,” Akko said. “It all just slipped out.”

“I’m not mad at you,” Diana said. “I’m not surprised at Amanda. But I think we’ll be okay.”

Akko figured Diana would still be mad about something. That’s how things usually went with her. _I always do something to mess up with her_.

“Are we still going to have practice?” Akko asked. “Our practices?”

“Of course.” Diana answered firmly.

It was bittersweet to leave Diana, and Akko found herself unable to sleep when she returned to her room.

_What am I supposed to think about?_

_That I kissed Diana? It was just for practice, right? Even if I really liked it…_

Akko sat up.

_I did really like it. I don’t even know how much of that was acting. How do I even know that though?_

After another hour tossing and turning under moonlight, Akko couldn’t take anymore. She tiptoed out of the room so Sucy and Lotte wouldn’t wake up.

Akko was half not thinking at all, and half filled with thought as she snuck through the hallways. She listened to a guiding voice that didn’t speak with words, but with vague feelings. Akko reached her destination and knocked softly.

It was a risk, and she had to hope Diana was the one to open the door. If it was Hannah or Barbara she had to just run. If no one answered, she’d at least say she tried.

Akko took a deep breath as the door opened. She felt both relieved and terrified when Diana stepped out in the dim light of the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the wonderful responses so far! Seriously I can't deal with how nice everyone is. This story has been so much fun to write so far, and I hope you continue to stick around for all the fun coming up.


	9. Something Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko confronts Diana in the middle of the night.

Diana couldn’t sleep at all after the high stress negotiation with Amanda. She knew she was probably being a bit melodramatic about it all, but Amanda spreading gossip would have been like a spark in a dry forest for gossip. She couldn’t let her go without being sure she wouldn’t talk about it. The information couldn’t get out until Diana was entirely ready for it to be out.

_What will it mean if it is out though?_

Right as she thought that, she heard a faint knock at her door. She had an inkling, or possibly even a hope as to who was outside, so she rushed out of bed.

Diana couldn’t see anyone in the darkness.

“Hello?” Diana asked. “Akko?”

Diana realized how her voice was so weak all of a sudden. Almost…vulnerable. Akko stepped out of the shadows. She looked almost like she was in a trance. Diana quietly shut the door.

“What is it?” Diana asked. “Are you alright?”

“I just...” Akko whispered. “I just need to know…”

Akko stepped closer with hands visibly uncertain what they needed to do. Just as Diana felt a sudden desire to reach her own hands out to grab Akko’s, they heard someone clear their throat down the hallway.

“Finnelan,” Diana said.

Finnelan was making the rounds as she usually did around this time, she wasn’t in their hallway, but she was getting closer. _Why was I so stupid to step outside?_

Akko panicked, and grabbed Diana’s hand and pulled her forward.

“A-Akko!?” Diana said.

Suddenly she was running with Akko, and the two darted into a dark hallway. Finnelan’s footsteps were drawing closer. If she caught them…Diana wasn’t prepared for that. She could come up with an excuse for Amanda. But not a teacher. Diana looked to Akko, grateful she could see her as her eyes adjusted in the darkness. Akko was always breaking rules, she hopefully had a plan.

“Metamorphie Faciesse,” Akko whispered.

Akko turned into a mouse and darted into a tiny hole in the wall. Not seeing another option, Diana cast the same spell and followed her.

After a long and winding walk through the insides of the walls, the two ended up popping out in a place Diana didn’t recognize. They returned to their human forms and held their breath, making sure no teacher was nearby.

“That was crazy,” Akko said, rubbing her head. “Where are we?”

“I think the auditorium,” Diana said. “Look.”

Diana gestured towards a console that looked very much like a Professor Croix creation. Peering over it, Diana realized they had wandered into the control room for the play’s mechanisms. It made her feel a little queasy seeing how high up they were.

“We hopefully won’t get caught here,” Diana said. “Well, now that you’ve nearly got us into trouble, why exactly did you pull me out of my room?”

Akko’s impulsiveness got her in trouble a lot, and Diana started to think she didn’t have a plan at all. She was fairly certain she didn’t.

“Honestly Akko,” Diana said. “If you had just waited a second I could have brought you into my room until Finnelan left.”

Akko didn’t seem too phased.

“Would you really want me to suddenly be in your room in the middle of the night with Hannah and Barbara there?” Akko asked.

“Good point,” Diana said. “Well, we’re alone now.”

Diana gulped as it hit her they were alone. In the middle of the night. In a private and secluded place. Her heartrate hadn’t slowed down since they heard Finnelan.

“W-what did you want to see me about?” Diana asked.

Her voice was faint again. If they were quiet they would be safe. Part of her was feeling very impulsive, while her rational side tried to get her to relax. She clasped her hands together in a feeble attempt to get them to stop shaking.

“I just have to know.” Akko said.

Akko pulled Diana to sit down with her, then held her as she gently lowered Diana’s back to the floor. Diana’s heartbeat pounded as Akko pressed her hands to the ground beside Diana. Her expression was confused but somehow determined at the same time. Diana never saw Akko look like that.

For a quiet moment, they stayed like that, with Akko basically pinning Diana down as they stared at each other, unsure of who would make the next move. Diana lifted a hand up almost instinctually and held Akko’s wrist, and Akko took that as a sign to move forward.

Seconds later Akko’s lips were on Diana’s, their mouths finally reunited. Diana sighed into the kiss, wondering how she made it the last few days without tasting those lips. She didn’t know how long it would last, so she relished their entwined tongues, the small sounds Akko made, how her back felt in her hands. She felt almost lightheaded when Akko finally separated and knelt beside her as they caught their breath. Diana sat up, not entirely sure what she was feeling but feeling certain it was something wonderful.

“Okay, so,” Akko said. “I think I figured some things out just now.”

“What’s that?” Diana asked.

“I think these kisses aren’t all acting.” Akko said.

Akko held a straight face long enough for Diana to snort, then when Akko started giggling they both started laughing. Akko stopped suddenly. Diana froze as well, as it just hit her what Akko had said.

“I mean,” Akko said. “That’s how it is for you, right?”

A big heartbeat. A scary pounding beat. Diana thought about all the things she’d written about Akko in her diary. How worried she was about hurting Akko. But if Akko was having feelings too…

“Yes,” Diana whispered. “I don’t know for how long but…I know when we kiss…”

“It’s pretty great,” Akko said.

Another long pause.

“So are we…together now?” Akko said. “I don’t know how this works. Are we a thing?”

_A thing._ _A couple. Atsuko Kagari just asked if we’re dating._ Diana’s head nearly spun. It was beyond her dreams, and it was a real thing that Akko just asked her.

“I-I don’t know,” Diana said, not dismissively but genuinely not knowing. “Do you want to be?”

Diana covered her mouth after saying that. This was moving so fast. _Too fast?_

“I mean…we do fight a lot,” Akko said. “But we also are really special to each other.”

“We don’t have to decide now,” Diana said. “We can just keep moving forward.”

“Yeah,” Akko said. “I wanna keep kissing you, at least.”

Diana flashed back to what Akko said to Amanda. And how much it rattled her. How happy it made her to hear Akko say it, even if it was embarrassing for her to say it to Amanda. How it broke her composure.

“Were you telling the truth?” Diana asked.

“Huh?” Akko asked.

Akko was so precious when she was confused. Diana was too tired to stop the flowery thoughts in her mind about Akko, who looked adorable and sweet and entirely kissable in that moment.

“Did you really say I’m a good kisser?” Diana asked.

Akko laughed.

“Yeah, I did,” Akko said. “But I shouldn’t have.”  
“W-what do you mean?” Diana asked.

“You’re an _amazing_ kisser.” Akko said.

Akko’s warm smile meant everything to Diana in that moment. It was happening so fast, but maybe it had been building up between them for so long. Akko yawned suddenly.

“Maybe we should talk tomorrow,” Akko said.

Diana didn’t want to leave, but she also didn’t want to stay up all night. She would for Akko if Akko asked in that moment.

“That’s probably for the best,” Diana said. “We don’t want to fall asleep here.”

Part of Diana did want that. Akko giggled, and got out her wand. Was this all for tonight? Diana’s hands acted on their own again and grabbed Akko’s wrists.

“Please,” Diana said. “Just one more.”

Akko smiled, not fazed at Diana’s begging.

“Of course,” Akko said, trailing off as they pulled each other in close once more.

Diana remembered writing essays on the most exhilarating moment of her life, when she first learned to fly a broom. It had taken her so long, and she’d been through so much pain thinking it’d never happen. When she finally flew, she couldn’t describe how happy she felt. Kissing Akko was legitimately better than that broom ride. Every kiss was like learning to fly all over again.

Their lips finally separated, though Diana could tell Akko didn’t want the night to be over either, now that they knew. Diana knew they wouldn’t even be able to talk as soon as they cast their transformation spells as to not alert any nighttime guards.

“Goodnight, Akko,” Diana said.

“Night, Diana.” Akko said. “And thanks!”

Diana fell asleep almost immediately when she got into bed, but she had never had a better night’s sleep, and she’d never had sweeter dreams, all of which involved Akko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope you all have a lovely day. Thank you so much for the kudos and comments!! It's been stress city at work and your comments have been my emotional support :)


	10. The Talking About It Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amanda has her first play practice.

Amanda didn’t want to admit she was nervous heading into practice, but she knew Jaz and Constance could tell when they had to split up. Amanda felt her legs turn slightly gelatinous when she saw Sarah looking over her script. Even sitting down she looked tall.

“Hello everyone!” Professor Ursula said. “We have some exciting news, Amanda is joining the play!”

All eyes were on her suddenly, including Sarah’s. Amanda did the classic “turn head while the other person looks up so it doesn’t look like staring even though it was totally obvious it was staring” move to avoid Sarah’s gaze.

“Uh, hey,” Amanda said, weakly waving. “Happy to help.”

“Wonderful! Alright, before we start, Professor Croix has an announcement that she elected to not explain to me.” Ursula said.

Ursula sounded sweet in tone, but there was a hint of bitterness to her words. Croix stood up.

“To ensure this play is performed to the maximum potential, it needs two things,” Croix said. “Passionate acting, and spectacular set work. I don’t know if I’m seeing either so far.”

“Croix, it’s been a week! We’re still rehearsing-” Ursula said.

Croix held a hand up.

“I would like to take a more hands on role today, if that’s alright Ursula,” Croix said. “In addition to that, I fear as though there may have been some tampering in the equipment area.”

Croix looked gravely serious as murmurs came from the cast.

“I noticed some things were amiss in the control area.” Croix said, pointing above to the lookout perch filled with all the crazy mechanisms and computers running the stage and production stuff. All too complicated for Amanda. She did like not being responsible for something though, it was an odd change of pace. Amanda looked around the cast and crew to see if anyone looked immediately guilty.

 _Oh._ Amanda thought as she noticed Akko and Diana.

It had to be them. Diana could control her blushing in front of everyone, but Akko was a blabbermouth and would be the worst poker player ever, she had like five tells all at once. And she was already showing about three of them. Amanda smiled slyly, thinking about what the two of them would be up to up there. She could get some revenge on them, maybe scoring the winning points in their little mental game. She let them sweat a little and could see Diana start to break. Her conscience warned her against it, as she realized if they were alone together, maybe Akko had actually taken her advice. Amanda sighed.

“It was me,” Amanda said. “I forgot…”

_Don’t say broom, don’t say broom. Don’t say homework either they won’t buy that._

“I forgot my broom…cleaning stuff! I left it up there. But now that I’m acting in the play it won’t be a problem.” Amanda said.

Croix’s serious expression broke.

“Good, I’m glad it was just you,” Croix said. “If I catch you up there again though it may cause a problem. But I’m glad it was someone working in the crew. Everything up there was tuned to my preferred settings, and…”  
  
Croix rambled on and on about her artisanship, which Amanda thought was pretty rude to Cons, who probably made just as much of the stuff. _I don’t even know anything about that stuff. I could probably do more damage than whoever was up there._ Amanda turned to Akko and Diana, who both were saying thank you with their eyes.

Practice finally started, and Croix’s directing methods were a bit more…involved than Ursula’s. Ursula still helped out, but it was obvious when Croix took over. When a scene was remotely not to her liking, Croix made them do it over and over. It was almost as boring as the crew work, as Amanda didn’t even get to have any scenes. The first time she actually got to do one she had to stand near Sarah. Amanda tried to calculate how long she could stare without anyone noticing.

Amanda had to stand a little bit behind Sarah. Amanda internally screamed when she had the sudden fluttery thought of wanting to feel Sarah’s long hair. It looked so soft. She mentally slapped herself to stay focused.

“Just a heads up, this scene is super boring.” Sarah whispered.

Amanda murmured a response, but her insides were in complete freakout mode. Akko and Diana were in the center of the stage, each giving a weird monologue about the power of vineyards or something and how it related to love. Amanda found herself continually glancing back to Sarah. She kept her hands locked behind her back, and she shuffled from heel to heel. Amanda wanted to reach out and hold her hand. _Focus!_ _When did you get so dopey about this?_

“ _O’Neill._ ” Croix said.

“Huh?” Amanda asked.

“Your character has a line there.” Croix said.

“Really?” Amanda asked, looking at her script. “Oh yeah. Uh, ‘ _The vineyards are burning!’”_

 _Phew. No lines for a while after that._ Croix didn’t seem impressed with her acting. _Whatever. I told them I couldn’t act._

Practice ended, and Amanda found herself locked in place staring at Sarah. She wanted to say something, preferably not pulling an Akko and blabbing something out that she shouldn’t say. But she froze, and could only watch as Sarah left.

Akko and Diana found her and asked if she could come with them to their practice room. Amanda hoped she could at least get some entertainment out of them.

When they got to the room and locked the door, Akko started babbling immediately.

“AmandathankyousomuchIdon’tknowwhatIwouldhavesaidwewouldhavebeeninsomuchtrouble-” Akko said.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down!” Amanda said. “It’s nothing. I didn’t even get in trouble.”

Diana was quiet, but Amanda could tell she was grateful as well.

“What were you two doing in there after hours?” Amanda asked.

Amanda smirked again, seeing them squirm.

“We were…” Diana started.

“It was just…” Akko said.

“Don’t lie to me, I saved your butts back there.” Amanda said. “Just be real with me. I don’t wanna do another debate thing or whatever that was.”

Akko and Diana both blushed, and it was like waiting for a teapot to steam, a race to see which would blow first. Unsurprisingly Akko broke before Diana.

“We made out again!” Akko said. “And we’re…kind of a thing now.”

“Ha!” Amanda said. “So you actually took my advice!”

“Yeah!” Akko said. “We’re still figuring like…everything out, but we wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

“Yes,” Diana said, obviously terrified to be talking right then. Her voice had none of the confidence it usually did. “I really feel a lot better. And now we’re…together.

“Honestly, wow,” Amanda said. “Congrats. I’m impressed. You guys snuck into the auditorium in the middle of the night to make out? That’s pretty bold. Diana must really be a good kisser. Or Akko must be if she got you to break rules.”

Diana twirled a bit of hair in her hands.

“It was an accident, kinda!” Akko said. “I was gonna kiss her in the hall but Finnelan showed up and..."

“A-Akko?!” Diana asked. “You didn’t tell me that!”

“My brain was all scrambled, I wasn’t thinking clearly!” Akko said. “I just really wanted to kiss you!”

Diana smiled softly. Even if they had their fights all the time, Amanda thought it was nice to see them looking so happy.

“Also, we wanted to bring you here to talk to you about something else,” Akko said.

“What is it?” Amanda asked.

“We talked it over a bit, and here’s what we’re thinking,” Akko said. “We all keep saying the wrong thing.”

“Consistently.” Diana said. “And in the worst places at the worst times.”

“That’s true.” Amanda said. She was almost ready to blab about Sarah to her after practice. Or at least the thoughts were bouncing around her head rapidly. It felt like once the door was opened, there was no shutting it, and everything trapped inside was free to roam around.

“So since we all know the others’ secrets,” Akko said.

“And we’re not ready to talk about it with our teammates…” Diana said.

“Definitely not,” Amanda said.

Amanda could barely talk about it to Akko and Diana, she was terrified to think about telling it to Cons and Jaz.

“We should just talk it out with each other so we stop blabbing to everyone else.” Amanda said.

“Something like that, yeah!” Akko said. “We can keep practicing the play in here too.”

“Presumably not with any make out scenes.” Amanda said.

“Well, we can practice those after you leave.” Akko said.

Amanda laughed more at Diana’s reaction than what Akko said.

“See? We need this!” Akko said. “And we want to help you, too.”  
  
“You really helped us.” Diana said. “And I’m very thankful for it."  
  
It was _weird_ to hear Diana talk like that. She seemed so different around Akko. Like the walls she put up around herself were down.

“So if you need to tell us anything we’re here for you.” Akko said. “We can all just get our saying the wrong thing out of our systems here!”

Amanda knew she needed to blow off some steam about the thoughts bouncing around in her head.

“Well I’m pretty sure it’s a crush now,” Amanda said. “I just get all fuzzy around Sarah. It’s so weird and I kinda hate it. She’s just really cute and it bugs me how cute she is because I want to hold her and ugh!”

Akko looked a little starstruck, she was always a sucker for romantic stories and Amanda was sure Akko enjoyed seeing her be gushy about anything. _Akko would probably cry over a romance between bugs if she read a story about it._

“That’s how I felt,” Diana said.

“Really?!” Akko said, eyes twinkling.

“Yes, I tried to think about all the ways it _wasn’t_ a crush, but I just kept coming back to it.” Diana said. “I couldn’t deny it. And I’m glad you’re not either, Amanda.”  
  
“It’s just like, now what?” Amanda said. “We’ve been going to school together all this time and we never even talked. Or hardly talked…and it was fine. Now I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“Give it time,” Diana said. “Maybe being her scene partner will help.”

“It sure helped you two.” Amanda said. “Like one week of play practice and you guys make out. I wish it was that easy for me.”

Akko and Diana both were incredibly red.

“Are you guys sure there weren’t like cameras or anything in there?” Amanda asked. “Because if Croix finds out…”  
  
Akko gulped.

“I hope not.” Akko said.

“Croix would probably be happy and say how _passionate_ your acting is.” Amanda said. “But ew if she watched that footage, that’d be creepy.”

“Hannah and Barbara have a lot of airborne scenes,” Diana said. “I can be tactical in checking with them about it. I would assume there aren’t cameras up there."

“I’ll check with Cons too just to be safe.” Amanda said. “Don’t want your little midnight rendezvous getting found out.”

“Thanks Amanda! That’d be…really bad if we got found out.” Akko said.

They talked about a lot of dramatic interpretations of Croix talkng about her control area, and Diana surprised Amanda by actually being funny. She always assumed she was just a stick in the mud about everything. Past the exterior she put up around herself she was more shy, and kinda dorky in a fun way.  _I kinda get what Akko sees in her_.

The group didn’t get any practice done but got enough talked about to feel accomplished. Or Amanda did at least. As she headed back to her room she actually felt a sense of pride. Proud for helping those two figure out they cared about each other, and proud that she took the step to be in the play. She was a long way from getting closer to Sarah, but she made progress. And any progress was good progress if Sarah was the end goal.

_Maybe this stupid play won’t be so bad after all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are amazing just saying! I had to post a chapter today because I got excited about the new Akko figure that got announced, and Bandai Namco finally starting to talk about LWA Chamber of Time's US release AAHHH.


	11. Monologue Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko's acting doesn't impress Professor Croix, who imposes a strict deadline.

Even in practice, Akko felt a little star struck staring at Diana. She tried to use her own feelings for their sudden decision to try maybe dating soon to get more into character as Etta, but she admitted she hadn’t made much stride in the actual acting department. They were currently rehearsing a scene where Alice was serving tea to Etta, which wasn’t too out of character for Diana. What was tough was Akko complaining about negotiating land property rights on the moon.

“Etta, if you need help paying for the legal fees, I can grab some of the funds from Grace’s smash hit country album to help pay…” Diana said.

This scene was so boring. It made Akko want to just finish practice and get to her more fun private practice with Diana. Croix was also taking a more hands on role directing, and she was less fun with the scenes than Ursula.

“That would be…marvelous? I…do declare?” Akko said.

Croix groaned.

“Kagari, stop adding questions at the end of all your lines! Have you no respect for the screenplay?” Croix asked.

Akko shrugged.

“I do, I guess.” Akko said.

“Atsuko, I’m putting my foot down,” Croix said. “You have until tomorrow to impress me, or you’re cut from the play.”

“What!?” Akko asked.

“You heard me.” Croix said.

Diana actually stood up and almost looked ready to fight.

“You can’t do that Croix!” Ursula said.

“Oh, _can’t I_?” Croix asked.

“You can’t just cut an actor! Especially after the hard time we had getting a replacement last time!” Ursula said.

Akko looked over at Amanda, who looked at her shoes. Was she actually feeling guilty for making Gaëlle leave?

“Ursula, just trust me,” Croix said. “I’m _motivating_ her. If Akko can, say… _wow_ me with her monologue in act two tomorrow, she can stay. If you have such faith in her this shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”

For some reason that Akko didn’t understand, Ursula caved. Akko didn’t think she could ever be mad at Ursula, but she felt a little upset she didn’t fight for her more.

“Let’s go,” Diana said.

Amanda told them she had plans with Jazminka and Constance and couldn’t join them for Talking About it Club today, so it was just Akko and Diana.

 _We’re together now._ Akko kept thinking that any time they were together. It was so weird. They always had their little fights, but there wasn’t anyone that she had so much of a connection to. She got bubbly just looking at Diana. Their private study room even felt different, especially with just them alone in it.

“Akko, we need to focus today,” Diana said. “I might have been slacking a bit in the actual practice department in the last few days…”

Akko slumped in her chair and sighed.

“I’m sorry I’m so bad at this,” Akko said. “I thought I’d be good at acting!”

“You are,” Diana said. “Croix just wants something very specific for this script, and I’m going to do everything I can to help you show it to her.”

Diana being so unflinchingly there for Akko made her feel better, but she didn’t know if Diana could make Croix like her acting.

“Can we just make out instead?” Akko asked.

Diana crossed her arms, but it wasn’t the usual arm cross of disappointment Akko had grown so used to, usually followed by an ‘Honestly, Akko…’ and then scolding. Diana closed her eyes and smiled.

“While I would enjoy that,” Diana said. “I’d like to ensure you’re staying in the play, so we can have an excuse to kiss until we’re ready for the next steps.”

Akko didn’t even know how to respond. She wasn’t feeling at all confident in herself, but Diana was.

“If we’re dating, there’s no way I’m going to let you fall, even in something like this.” Diana said. “We have to help each other however we can.”

Akko felt warm hearing that. Diana kept surprising her by being so sweet.

“Here’s my motivation for you,” Diana said. “Once you prove to Professor Croix that you belong as the lead, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, within reason.”

Akko’s eyes widened.

“Our first date…” Akko said.

Diana nodded as they both seemed to realize the gravity of what she was offering.

“We did this in a weird order, huh?” Akko said. “Kiss first…and then again…and _then_ get together…we’ve barely even held hands yet.”

Akko hoped Diana would take the hint and grab Diana held Akko’s script out to her instead.

“After practice, I’ll hold your hand as long as you’d like.” Diana said. “As an extra incentive.”

It was kinda cute that Diana offered it that way. Akko would have practiced hard for Diana even if she didn’t say anything, but it was clear by how much Diana was blushing she wasn’t used to anything this romantic either.

Diana made sure to drill the monologue Akko had to rehearse over and over, and it started to become easier to say the lines without making them sound like questions. Diana just made everything easier, even when things weren’t easy. She helped clarify the scene too, because she could somehow follow this script that Akko felt lost in on approximately page two.

“And if you ask me, the Baltimore ballet team could use a budget cut if it helps the advancement of the personal computer!” Akko said.

Diana actually clapped, which was something she always wanted from her but never knew it until that moment.

“Hey, I did it!” Akko said. “I almost wish you were the director, you make this make sense!”

“No you don’t,” Diana said. “You wouldn’t get to kiss the director.”

“That’s true,” Akko said. “Alright hand holding time!”

Akko snapped over to Diana and didn’t hesitate to grab her hands.

“Wow, your hands are so soft!” Akko said. “Mine feel so rough compared to yours!”

“Y-yes…there’s a great fairy powder that if you mix with a certain potion…” Diana trailed off, and Akko lost herself in her eyes again. “You’re really cute.”  
They both flinched.

“What?!” Akko said.

“That just slipped out.” Diana said. “Then again, we’re dating so that’s not odd to say, right?”

Diana was obviously rattled that she let that out that she tried to justify itself to her for a few minutes while Akko stared blankly.

“You really think so?” Akko asked.

Diana broke out of her verbal train of thought and came back to reality.

“Yes. Undeniably.” Diana said.

Diana squeezed her hands a little tighter.

“You’re incredibly cute.” Diana said.

The room felt way too hot, but Akko didn’t want to be anywhere else. She never realized how nice holding someone’s hands could really be.

“I’m cool with just holding hands today.” Akko said. “If you kiss me right now I might actually catch on fire.”

“Then we can burn together,” Diana said, leaning in for a quick kiss.

Diana let go of her hands after that, brushing her fingers on her lips as if to make sure they actually just kissed again. Akko leaned back in her chair, feeling like she’d just been jolted with an electricity spell. It was getting late again.

“We need more time together,” Akko said. “Time alone, I mean.”

Diana smiled again.

“We do have a date coming up,” Diana said. “After you show Croix how wonderful an actor you are.”

 

Akko felt ready to really earn her spot in the play (and earn a date) as she entered practice the next day. She had been reading her monologue in class and mentally going over it in her head.

Croix approached them, weirdly with Amanda following close behind. Amanda looked like all the color had left her face. Akko felt her stomach start to drop, and turned to Diana, who seemed to immediately know what was happening.

“There’s something I’d like to check with you three on before we start today,” Croix said. “Please follow me.”

Akko felt her legs grow heavy as Croix directed them to the control room above the theater. Akko stood side by side with Diana and Amanda. She wished she could hold Diana’s hand for support. Croix brushed her cape aside and grinned.

“I found something very interesting on my security footage.” Croix said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU ALL FOR READING AND THE COMMENTS YOU ARE ALL LOVELY. I had like the most stressful work week (source notes for 80 (!?) citations???) combined with me being in a general downer mood from some life stuff that I thought I was past...bleh! Having my inbox open with all the nice comments was my emotional support again SO THANK YOU!!
> 
> Also, I joined a LWA discord to talk about the game (which is coming out March?? April?? June??), but it was uhhh how to say it without being mean not my scene lol. Are there any like super chill not gigantic LWA discords? I don't know if this is the place to ask hahaha. I almost want to start my own...
> 
> UPDATE: So I did make one, if you want to join check out this link:  
> https://discord.gg/WXdKtBK
> 
> If I take that down come find me at Kagarirain on Tumblr!


	12. The Plight of the Talented Playwright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Croix calls Akko, Amanda, and Diana in claiming she knows what really happened in the control room after hours.

Diana maintained her steel gaze even if she didn’t feel entirely confident in it. She’d gotten out of worse situations. This was nothing. Croix couldn’t read through her eyes.

Croix waited for them to say something first. But _what_ could they possibly say? Amanda looked like she was about to faint. She was no stranger to getting into trouble, but the present drama of the situation was new to her.

“Do you know why I called you three here?” Croix asked.

Croix’s tone gave away nothing. Akko looked ready to blurt the worst possible thing immediately. She started to say something, but Diana grabbed her wrist, hoping she’d get the hint. _Let me handle this_. Akko nodded slightly. While Diana’s attention was on her, she forgot she couldn’t have the same effect on Amanda.

“Uh so,” Amanda said. “If we’re talking technically here-”

“Zip it O’Neill,” Croix said. “You’re only here because I wanted to scare you and teach you a lesson for lying because lying is bad and wrong.”

“Oh,” Amanda said. “Okay?”

Croix squinted at Amanda, as if she was supposed to know what to do next.

“You can go, O’Neill.” Croix said.

Amanda looked like she wanted to stay but Diana gave her a quick glance. _I can handle this._

“Good luck,” Amanda said as she stepped away.  
Croix sighed when Amanda left.

“I’m really in quite the tricky situation here,” Croix said.

“You’re in the tricky situation?” Akko asked.

Diana stopped her from saying any more. Croix hadn’t said exactly what she knew yet. Diana was fairly certain they hadn’t messed with her controls.

Diana narrowed her eyes. It reminded her of an old western she’d seen once. It was fairly childish, but it was a nice mental palette cleanser after a lengthy study session. Two outlaws stared down and waited for one to make a move in a duel. Diana pictured herself as the heroic outlaw, defending the dear maiden from anything that threatened her.

Croix sighed.

“You both know what I saw on my security footage.” Croix said.

Akko gulped, and Diana wanted nothing more than to grab her hand and reassure her she’d be alright. She knew she’d have to by winning Croix’s game.

“And what did you see?” Diana asked.

Akko started to object.

“We didn’t touch any equipment!” Akko said.

Diana gave Akko another quick look and hoped she’d understand what she was feeling. _I can handle this. For you._

“Oh?” Croix asked. “So you two _were_ here then after hours?”

Diana calculated her response in her head. Croix just potentially revealed that she _didn’t_ have security footage or was trying to bait her to think she didn’t.

“I thought you had security footage,” Diana said.

Croix’s half-smile didn’t falter.

“I have a Sorcery Unit specifically for ensuring nothing in the theater area is tampered with.” Croix said.

“So you know something was tampered with.” Diana said. “Is that all you know?”

Croix brushed her hair aside. Something in her expression. It was almost as though she wasn't entirely engaged.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Croix said.

“Cute, grade school arguments,” Diana said. “I assumed you were better than that, Professor.”

A slight falter. Diana was starting to piece it together. If they didn't give anything else away, they could wrap things up.

“Why don’t you show the footage?” Diana asked.

“Diana…?” Akko said.

“And start at the beginning,” Diana said. “Maybe you could find who was tampering with your equipment.”

Croix scowled.

“I can’t show you the footage!” Croix wailed. “I don’t have any. I lied. I know, I just said lying is bad. But teachers are more allowed to lie than students!”  
  
“I’m so confused,” Akko said. “Diana, what’s going on?”

“While you could punish us for potentially being here after hours, I could tell there was something else you wanted from us.” Diana said. “And I assume you hoped to intimidate us into getting it from you when you could have easily just asked us. So why don’t you tell us what you want?”

Croix sighed again.

“Fine. I know you were out after hours, but it wasn’t _that_ late. I figured it was you two when O’Neill took the credit for it.” Croix said. “I’m also not allowed to discipline with my…track record, so to speak…but that’s not it…”

Diana let herself sigh softly. They were presumably off the hook. Diana felt Akko’s fingertips brush against hers, and she let Akko hold her hand for a brief moment while Croix turned away. Croix couldn’t hide the sadness in her voice.

“It’s not working,” Croix said. “This was supposed to be different.”

“What was?” Akko asked.

“This play was one of the many I penned in hopes of winning her heart, but she only looks at the little things like _setting_ or _theme_ or _character._ She isn’t reading between the lines!” Croix said.

“Who?” Akko asked.

“Ursula…” Croix said. “I thought if I could get the acting better…she’d understand what I’m trying to tell her…”

“You might have gone a bit too harsh on that,” Diana said. “Akko, and many others, learn through positive reinforcements rather than threats.”

“I get it, Miss Cavendish,” Croix said.

“Why don’t you just tell her?” Akko asked.

Diana preemptively flinched expecting Akko to say “It worked for us.”, but she held her tongue.

Croix lazily wiped away some dust on her console.

“It’s…too much for me right now.” Croix said. “It may sound silly, but having this grand play is easier in my head than actually just telling her. So I've wanted to push you all, because it's like it's my love letter on stage.”  
  
Diana was a little touched thinking of that. The play brought her to Akko, so she couldn't deny that it was romantic. Diana turned to Akko, who already had tears streaming down her face.

“That's so amazing professor! Then that’s just what we’ll do!” Akko said. “We’ll make it twice as romantic as before! No, three times!”  
  
Croix looked surprised, then laughed.

“Oh, that’s right!” Akko said. “Do you still want me to rehearse that scene? I’ve been practicing with Diana like all night!”

“We can do the scene when practice starts,” Croix said. “But don’t worry about being cut from the play, Akko. Just promise me you’ll try to live up to the Etta Heartfelt I pictured writing this.”

Akko nodded.

“I won’t let you down professor!” Akko said.

“You too, Diana.” Croix said.

Diana nodded. She wasn’t as keen on being so warm to Croix after the way she acted the last few days (more so that it put Akko under stress than anything towards herself).

“I still don’t get it though,” Akko said. “How’d you figure out we were here if you didn’t have any footage?”

Croix flicked a wrist, and one of the Sorcery Units came over and turned a light onto the edge of one of the panels where the two had squeezed through.

“Mouse tracks.” Croix said. “Amanda took credit even though there were two sets of tracks.”

“Well, that could have been any mice…” Akko said.

Croix turned to Diana.

“I guessed it was you two by the look in her eyes,” Croix said. “When she looks at you.”

With a dramatic turn of her cape, Croix directed them to follow her back to the stage. Akko stared at Diana with her mouth wide, and the two held each other’s gaze; Diana frozen in sudden shock that Croix could tell her feelings, and Akko searching at her sight, as though she wanted to see that look for herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you'd like to join a chill LWA server, check it out here! It's been a lot of fun already!  
> https://discord.gg/WXdKtBK


	13. A Doused Spark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amanda has a frustrating play practice.

Akko and Diana returned with Croix, looking totally fine to Amanda’s surprise. Or maybe not too surprising, as those two seemed to actually love debating. Croix didn’t give away how she was feeling, but Amanda didn’t really care how she felt. Pulling a stunt like fake getting her in trouble was not the way to get on her good side. If she wasn’t in the play for Sarah, she would have definitely no showed practice and probably quit the play without telling anyone.

Akko gave her a thumbs-up as they passed, and Amanda nodded slightly so as to not appear a dork to Sarah, who wasn’t even looking her direction. Amanda had decided she hated crushes. She hated that she cared about little things she was doing, or how she looked. It was taking up too much of her time, like the stupid play.

Amanda put most of her agitation on the stupid character she had to play. Akko hadn’t told her that her character had a lot of scenes, and she wasn’t prepared for the rehearsal of one with Sarah. She didn’t have to kiss her like Akko and Diana had to, but she did get one hug and a proposal scene on Mars.

Amanda avoided eye contact with Croix, who was still taking direct command of the rehearsals until they were to her satisfaction. Ursula didn’t seem to mind, but she did hold her back when she got a bit too overt (Namely screaming “MORE! MORE!!” when a romantic scene wasn’t going well enough).

Akko and Diana had a scene, and Amanda actually tried to pay attention to their stuff. They had a scene where they each had to draw toy guns on each other, as they were on opposite sides of a war. Amanda couldn’t follow any of it, but she tried to keep an eye out for their chemistry, which they had barely shown before due to Akko’s acting.

“Now Etta, you do know what I’ll have to do if you don’t get out of my way.” Diana said, holding her wooden prop gun up.

Amanda could sense the rest of the group start to nod off immediately, as the scene was an Akko-heavy-talking one and she tended to read her longer lines with a voice more monotone than monotone.

“You don’t understand, you’ll never understand!” Akko suddenly yelled, dropping her plastic gun.

Everyone froze. Even Diana looked stunned.

“Er, I-if you think that this is just about the crisis in the banks, you’re a fool.” Diana said.

For once, all eyes weren’t on Diana, and for the first time she delivered a line that actually sounded off. Akko picked up her toy gun again and pointed at Diana.

“This isn’t about any businesses anymore! The village in the north is starving, and we’re the only ones who can save it! And since you’re working with the enemy, you’ll never help! So it’s up to me! I have to work overtime! But I won’t ever give up, and if you think you can stop me, you’re dead wrong!”

Akko practically screamed the last few words. A stunned silence followed her echo through the room. Applause slowly started to fill the room. Amanda tried to hide her clapping (and the fact that she was the first to start) because she didn’t want Sarah to see her be enthusiastic.

Amanda felt a bit off for a moment seeing Diana join in the clapping with the rest. Her eyes were practically sparkling, and Amanda had never seen Diana with such a beaming, genuine smile. Ever since finding out she and Akko were getting closer, it became more and more obvious why. They really cared about each other.

“Wonderful! Yes!” Croix said.

Akko’s performance seemed to energize the entire crew. They rehearsed scenes at a faster pace than usual. Amanda began to feel anxious, as a scene she had with Sarah was coming up. A scene with _just_ her and Sarah. She wondered if they could have the kind of chemistry that Akko and Diana had, on stage and off. Would this play be the spark for them like it was for Diana and Akko?

Sarah took her place on the other side of the stage, and Amanda gulped. Once more she was reminded of how bad her crush was, as her mind buzzed with a million thoughts about Sarah’s hair and her eyes and her height and a million more things she couldn’t keep up with. Amanda hoped she could have at least, like, half the spark. Even a quarter of the spark.

Sarah started her lines, and Amanda tried to put as much into her character as she could, spurred on by Akko’s incredible performance. Unfortunately, her lines were dry. And her timing wasn’t great, and she didn’t know what to do to make the lines sound more natural.

Perhaps worst of all, there was no spark. Nothing. They were just acting. Sarah said her lines, and Amanda said hers. Amanda bit her tongue between lines because for some reason, her dumb scene in this dumb play not working immediately hurt.

Practice wrapped up, and Amanda watched Diana and Akko talking to their respective groups before everyone left. Everyone looked so happy today; it was probably the best day of rehearsals as far as Amanda could tell (she admitted to herself she hadn’t paid much attention to anything but Sarah the first few practices).

Amanda knew she should talk to them. She should talk to someone, and they agreed to keep her secret if she kept theirs. But she just froze at the edge of the stage as they left. To anyone else, it’d look like two friends leaving, but Amanda could see it now. The little looks Akko gave Diana. The giggle Diana tried to hide. They were probably going to do more kissing and hand holding than practicing. They were so happy.

It actually made Amanda mad seeing how happy they were. Maybe not mad. _Jealous. Frustrated._ Part of her, a side that she hated for how whiny it sounded in her head, thought _Why can’t I have that?_

“Ugh!” Amanda said, punching the side of the set with her right hand. She hit it at a weird angle, doing no damage to the wall but scraping her knuckles on an errant nail.

“Ugh! Are you serious?” Amanda snapped.

Amanda grabbed her hand and saw her knuckles were bleeding.

“Ugh, of course.” Amanda said.

She covered her hand up as well as she could, trying to not look like she was in as much pain as she was. Luckily, she had waited long enough that she was alone on stage now. If she could clean up in the bathroom, she could cover it up and no one would ask anything. She could say it was just a broom accident.

_Just gotta make it without anyone noticing._

“Are you alright?” Someone asked.

Amanda flinched. It was Sarah. Amanda covered up her hand even more and hoped she could run away. Seeing Sarah’s wide red eyes look so concerned made her gulp. She found herself frozen in place until she realized she was staring with her ruby red eyes.

“Y-yeah.” Amanda said. “I just scraped it a bit.”

“Well, we gotta get it clean!” Sarah said.

Suddenly Sarah was directing her by gently pushing on her shoulders until they were near a bathroom sink.

“Uh-I-I’m really fine!” Amanda said.

Sarah stood behind Amanda and turned on the water.

_What is happening I am going to scream she’s standing right behind me and I’m looking at her and she sees me and-_

Amanda shook her head a little to try and get some rationality back. Rationality that went out the window when Sarah took her right hand and held it under the water.

“It was on stage right?” Sarah asked. “I noticed a ton of hanging nails which you think wouldn’t happen if it was put together with magic.”  
“Y-yeah,” Amanda said, wondering how bad it’d be when she fainted and landed head first on the edge of the sink. For a split second her impulse was to squeeze Sarah’s hands but she shoved the thought away.

“Okay, that should be good,” Sarah said, letting go. “Now I’m not great with healing spells, but you probably won’t need one. Just put some pressure on it maybe? I don’t really know. I know to clean it and that’s about it.”

Amanda nodded blankly as Sarah kept talking. This was the most they’d ever talked.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sarah asked. “You didn’t like lose a lot of blood when I wasn’t looking did you?”  
_Keep it together! She can tell you’re being awkward!_

“This is nothing,” Amanda said. “I’ve broken arms and stuff falling off my broom.”

“Oh wow, really?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah! I’ve broken a lot of bones.” Amanda said, realizing she sounded way too excited about the intense pain of breaking her wrists, with the added bonus of lying about how many bones she’d broken.

_Okay, don’t mess up any more and we’ll count this as a win. As long as we don’t fall over head first on the sink still._

“Shoot, it’s kinda late,” Sarah said. “Maybe you should see if the nurses can clean you up more, or maybe Diana if she’s not busy.”

Amanda hated how she felt thinking how cute it was that Sarah said ‘shoot’.

“Yeah…I might go see her.” Amanda said.

"Good! Well...goodnight, Amanda!" Sarah said as she left maybe a little too quickly.

“Hey Sarah?” Amanda said.

Sarah turned around. Amanda wasn’t quite sure what she was doing.

“Wanna practice together?” Amanda asked. “The play, I mean. Our scenes. And stuff.”

 _Shot in the dark._ Sarah laughed a little.

“I think we get enough practice in rehearsals.” Sarah said.

Amanda tried to hide a frown starting to form.

“You’re a good actor so you don’t really need it!” Sarah said.

“O-oh.” Amanda said. “Really?”

“But we should definitely hang out more.” Sarah said. “I feel like I barely see you!”

“Y-yeah. I agree!” Amanda said.

“See you later, Amanda! Take care of that hand!” Sarah said.

Sarah left, her long hair swinging behind her. Amanda stood stunned for a second, not able to keep up with her incredible luck.

Amanda took off towards the private study rooms. She hoped Akko and Diana wouldn’t mind a sudden meeting of the Talking About It Club. Amanda found herself glad she hurt her hand as she walked; it gave her an excuse to hold the same hand Sarah had caressed.


	14. Suspicious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amanda goes to Akko and Diana for advice again, but Diana needs advice of her own.

“So uh,” Amanda said. “Yeah…”

“Did you need something from us, or…?” Diana asked.

Amanda had burst into Akko and Diana’s acting practice (they were actually practicing scenes instead of just “practicing” scenes) and had been saying nothing of note for about half an hour straight.

“Haha, good one!” Amanda said. “It’s like. I dunno…”

Akko wasn’t sure how to feel about Amanda’s wide smile, it wasn’t normal. She usually had a cocky grin, this looked more like she’d been petrified.

“Did…Sucy poison you or something to make you smile like that?” Akko asked.

“Smile like what?” Amanda asked. “Good one! You guys are killing it today? I dunno…”

“Why do you keep saying you don’t know?” Diana asked. “Do you need assistance?”

Akko braced herself for Amanda to make fun of her and Diana again. Or fall over from whatever poison Sucy had apparently given her. Instead Amanda just screamed.

“I can’t keep it in anymore!” Amanda said. “I like got really mad because I think I was feeling jealous of you guys being all like together and stuff but I’m good now! But I wasn’t then, and I punched the stage and it scraped up my hand but then Sarah saw!”

“You were jealous of us?” Akko asked.

“You punched a wall?” Diana asked.

“Yes, but it’s fine seriously!” Amanda said. “Sarah saw me and she like held my hand as she cleaned it up and I feel like my insides are kinda floating?”

Akko and Diana shared a stunned glance before gathering themselves.

“That’s great Amanda!” Akko said. “Now what are you gonna do?”

“I uh,” Amanda said. “That’s why I rushed over here. I wanted to ask you two, you know the whole talking about it club thing.”

Amanda kicked at the floor.

“Unless I’m getting in the middle of something between you two.” Amanda said.

Akko gave another glance to Diana.

“You weren’t,” Diana said. “And we agreed we’d all be there for each other. It sounds like things are progressing smoothly, though. What exactly are you having problems with?”

“Waiting I guess?” Amanda said. “I kinda don’t want to take this slowly…but I can’t just like start making out with her because we honestly haven’t even hung out really much ever?”

Amanda yelped, seemingly realizing what she said.

“Yeah, that’d be ridiculous!” Akko said. “Or wait, hey!”

“You guys are different,” Amanda said. “There’s history there.”

“Well, it seems like a simple solution, if one you probably don’t want to hear.” Diana said. “You need to build up to more…affectionate behaviors.”

“I guess,” Amanda said. “I just wish there was something like the play practice you had. Something to get her alone.”

“I know Sarah likes to go running in the morning!” Akko said. “Maybe you can take up running?”

“Hmmm,” Amanda said. “You know, that might be a good way to run into her.”

" _Run_ into her! It's a pun too, right?" Akko asked. "Anyone?"

Amanda seemed to relax with that idea.

“Thanks, Akko, if this works I owe you one.” Amanda said. “You guys got any problems right now?”

“I don’t think so,” Akko said. “Things are going good-“

“There is one thing,” Diana said. “That I’d like to get both of your opinions on.”

“Huh?” Akko asked. “Did I mess something up?”

“No,” Diana said. “It’s just…I believe Hannah and Barbara are starting to get suspicious.”

“Ooooooh,” Amanda said. “Your little cronies on to your little makeout sessions?”

Diana turned her nose up at that.  
“Lighten up, it’s a joke,” Amanda said.

Akko gasped.

“Is that why they were being so weird to me?” Akko asked.

“What do you mean?” Diana asked.

“I was just walking to breakfast and they were like, asking for my full day plan and stuff,” Akko said. “It was really annoying. I think they were maybe trying to see if I was hanging out with you!”

“They know that we’re just having practices,” Diana said. “But we’ve maybe been a little careless.”

“Is it hard to talk about ‘just’ practices when you come back to your room with kiss marks all over you?” Amanda asked with a cackle.

Diana turned entirely red.

“I make sure we are both free of any,” Diana started, then somehow turned redder. “Amanda, I’d advise you to stop talking about such foolishness.”

Amanda just laughed in response.

“OK, now I really feel better,” Amanda said.

“Akko, do you have anything to add instead of this…inappropriate language from our _friend_?” Diana asked.

“I guess maybe we should think about telling people,” Akko said.

“I thought we agreed we weren’t ready.” Diana said.

She said it so sincerely Akko felt like she hurt her by even suggesting it.

“I mean…would they really be upset though?” Akko asked. “I know Sucy and Lotte probably wouldn’t care. Sucy would probably just try to poison you, too.”

“Sucy tries to poison you?” Diana asked. “Is that why she calls you her guinea pig? Because that violates a great amount of rules at Luna Nova, and-“

“She’s deflecting, Akko,” Amanda said. “Now’s your chance to go in for the kill!”

“I mean, we still haven’t had our first like official date and all,” Akko said. “So maybe we can start getting ready to tell people after that?”

“That’s true,” Diana said. “As long as I have you and Amanda to talk about it…I suppose there’s a diplomatic and drama free way to tell Hannah and Barbara after our date.”  
“What are you guys doing for your first date?” Amanda asked.

“I told Akko she could pick anywhere within reason,” Diana said.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Akko said. “I’ve been training so much to act good that-“

“Act well,” Diana said.

“Yeah, act well!” Akko said. “Maybe somewhere…fun, I guess?”

“I just had a great idea!” Amanda yelled suddenly. “We could all go out to the club! Then it’s not like a date between any of us just a hangout! It’s perfect!”

“The club?” Diana asked, but Amanda ran out of the room before she could say anything. “Well, that’s that I suppose.”

“The club sounds fun!” Akko said. “I haven’t danced in a while!”

“The last time I was anywhere near dancing was when you let the love bee out,” Diana said. “And we all know how that went.”  
“To be fair, that was Sucy…” Akko said.

Diana smiled at Akko. Akko realized it was the exact same smile she gave when she’d been stung by the love bee, but genuine this time.

“It would be good practice for our dance scene on that time blimp in act 4.” Diana said. “And it’s always nice to be close to you.”

Now it was Akko’s turn to blush. Every passing day with Diana felt like they were just falling for each other for the first time.

“Hey wait a minute, Diana,” Akko said. “Why would Hannah and Barbara be weird at us for being a couple if they’re already dating?”

Diana’s smile dropped.

“What?” Diana asked. “They’re not dating.”

“They’re not?” Akko asked. “I always thought…”

“They’re just…very close.” Diana said. “They’ve been friends for a very long time, and they like to be physically close by holding hands…and…taking baths together…and…”

Akko wasn’t sure what to say. Now the color seemed to drain from Diana’s face.

“… _oh_.” Diana said. “E-excuse me, Akko. We’ll have to pick this up…another…”

Diana quickly packed up her scripts and got up to leave the study room.

“Hey, Diana, wait!” Akko said, but she was already out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE BREAK ;__; I made myself take a break so I could finish my manuscript, as fic writing was using the same energy as my main writing (my manuscript is generally tonally similar to these fics), and I really felt like I needed to finish this draft before writing any more. But now it’s done and in revisions/query and synopsis writing mode.  
> Also sorry if this is a shorter or lighter chapter, I’m just getting back into the fic writing groove! I wanna catch up on my others too aaaahhh.  
> AND SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED. CHAMBER OF TIME AAAAH. I need to like. Write down every character in it because AHHH IT GAVE ME SO MUCH OF WHAT I NEEDEDDDD. It seemed to recharge the fandom too as I’ve been getting regular kudos and stuff despite not updating like anything. AND DIANA NENDO ANNOUNCED F I N A L L Y.  
> Also a big shout out to everyone in my lwa discord, I did not think it would blow up like it has honestly. YALL ARE AMAZING.


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